


Who Are You Really?

by hufflepuffmultifandom



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Stiles Stilinski, Beta Derek, Comforting Stiles Stilinski, Dead Laura Hale, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, M/M, Mates, Minor Character Death, Sexy Times, Top!Stiles, Upset Derek, Werewolf Mates, bottom!Derek, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-01-29 07:40:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 63,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12626307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hufflepuffmultifandom/pseuds/hufflepuffmultifandom
Summary: After hiding his werewolf and Alpha status since his mother died, Stiles runs into Derek and they work together to find the Alpha killing people in Beacon Hills. [Set in Season 1. Alpha!Stiles, Beta!Derek.] I will be continuing this slowly.





	1. Introductions

"I think I've heard of this before," I told Scott, trying to keep my heartbeat controlled – now that his hearing was heightened I had to try to be more careful with these things. "It's called… lycanthropy," I told him, somewhat testing his reaction, and fake howling to make it sound like I was joking around a bit.

How was I going to tell him? He would never believe me, and how pissed would he be when he found out I'd been lying to him for as long as I had known him?

How did I tell him I was the Alpha of my pack?

I almost snorted. My 'pack.' **I** was my pack, everyone else was gone. I was alone. I just kept to myself, hid my scent as best as I could, and didn't tell anyone anything.

Scott shoved me after I made my seemingly smartass comment, and I laughed. He would eventually find out and I guess we would just have to deal with it when the time came. Scott would understand when I explained it, but I would have to explain it soon or-

Fuck. Oh fuck.

Werewolf. Close by. _Don't look around. Don't make any movements that seem territorial or threatening. You don't know who it is or how they'll react. Just pretend to keep looking for the inhaler and then 'happen' to see him standing there_.

He was being pretty creepy, just fucking standing there and making no move to say anything. Okay pal, this is definitely where the creepy, lurker, 'dangerous' stereotype comes from.

I turned, kicking at the leaves and casually looked up, making it seem natural. I jumped slightly, pretending to be startled by him like most humans would be. But I didn't have to pretend to speed my heart up because _holy shit_.

He was absolutely beautiful. My wolf was straining to demand he show me respect as an Alpha but he my wolf also wanted to jump his beautiful bones. I was using all the control I had to, well, control myself. I smacked Scott, probably harder than I normally did, but he wouldn't really notice.

He started walking over to us, and that's when I heard it. His heart was racing, too. And I could smell his arousal – holy shit did this man smell ridiculously good. I might have thought he was attracted to me if he hadn't been staring at Scott and barely even acknowledging my presence.

My wolf was pissed, which was making it even harder to control everything. Even my Alpha control was stretched to breaking point. But I could do this, I just needed to anchor myself.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, sounding rude but I could hear the underlying defensiveness. I had to, again, squash down the impulse to roar and demand respect. I ran my hand over my hair, the way my mom used to when she was trying to calm me down. Everyone just thought it was a nervous habit by now, which was fine with me.

"This is private property," he added, and it almost seemed like he was trying to explain his hostility.

"Uh, sorry man," I tried to keep this civil, "We didn't know." What a lame excuse, but I needed to make sure Scott didn't get territorial and defiant. This was Hale Pack land. I knew that, but I had thought it was deserted, that Derek and Laura had left and had no intention of returning. But, I realized that they must have come back because of the new Alpha killing that girl. It was on their land, after all. It was likely they didn't know about another wolf having an eye on the situations here, and Laura was an Alpha, so it was her responsibility, just as much as mine. I should probably go see her some time to talk to her about us maybe working together.

Maybe it would be nice to not be so alone.

But now I realized that this was _Derek Hale_. And my goodness, he grew up well. I hadn't even recognized him – not that he would have remembered me at all. I looked nothing like I had the last time we had seen each other, either. I probably smelled really different, too.

For some reason that I couldn't explain, I was still disappointed that he didn't recognize me. Maybe because, though he looked very different than when I last saw him, I still recognized him. But then again, he wasn't hiding his scent, he wasn't hiding who he was.

"We were just looking for something," Scott began to explain, dragging me out of my thoughts again. "But, uh, forget it."

Scott's wolf was getting territorial, which was something I was trying to avoid. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My patience and stress levels were at it's limits, and I knew that my eyes were flashing behind my eyelids. Sometimes I had a hard time controlling them, despite the fact that I had been an Alpha for years now.

I opened my eyes to see Derek wordlessly tossing Scott the inhaler, giving no explanation as to how he had it, how he knew it was Scott's and that was what we had been looking for, nothing. Honestly, I wasn't surprised that he had it. He had probably seen us last night, maybe he picked it up because he figured we would be back for it. Or maybe he just knew how expensive they were.

He left then, again giving no explanation, and I turned to Scott, not hearing what he said to me.

"Dude, that was Derek Hale, you remember, right?" I whispered, pretending that I didn't think he could hear me. But I knew he could. "He's only, like, a few years older than us," I said. _Four years_ , to be exact. But, there was no reason for me to know that.

"Remember what?" Scott asked. Sometimes he could be so dense, and now I felt terrible. Derek was still close enough to hear me. He was actually standing just far enough away that humans wouldn't know that he was there. And Scott had no idea what his abilities were or how to use them.

I dropped my voice some more, hoping he couldn't hear me and still knowing that it was no use. "His family? They all burned to death in a fire like ten years ago," I told him, my voice barely a whisper. It was only five years ago, I had been 11 when it had happened. Derek had been 15.

I heard Derek's heart stutter and his breath catch, and I had to stop myself from going over to him and comforting him. Or stop myself from crying.

"Wonder what he's doing back?" Scott asked. I just shrugged. I couldn't exactly tell him that I knew _exactly_ what he was doing back. We walked out of the forest, towards the Jeep so that I could bring Scott to work.

I guess I knew what I was doing tonight.

* * *

 

"Hey dad," I greeted him when I walked into the Sheriff's Station. I tilted my head towards his office, signalling that I needed to speak privately with him. He nodded, and we moved into the room, closing the door behind us.

"Hey, what's up, how was your day?" My dad asked me, giving me a brief hug. He wasn't a wolf, but he knew that we liked physical contact and scenting. He had learned a lot from my mom for which I was grateful.

"It was good, Scott and I went into the Reserve to look for his inhaler," I told him.

"I still wish you hadn't brought Scott out," he cut in.

"I know dad, me too," I said sadly. "But I had to, you needed me out there, and it would have been easier if he was there and I could say we were just curious," I explained yet again. My dad had needed me to help him find the other half of the body, and if I hadn't invited Scott out he would have been suspicious if I told him about it and hadn't gone to look or invited him along.

But then the dogs had gotten too close and caught my scent and Scott hadn't just come forward when dad had called for him, so I had had to leave him and by the time I realized he had been bitten it had been too late to help.

"There's nothing to be done about it now," my dad said, touching my arm to comfort me slightly. It helped a little. "Anyways, what happened at the Reserve?" He asked me. I had given up trying to figure out how my dad knew when I wanted to tell him something a long time ago.

"I saw Derek Hale. I'm thinking him and his sister heard about the Alpha kill and, because it was on their pack's land, they came back to check it out. I'm going to go back when I leave here and go let them know who I am and offer to help them. They might be able to help us find the Alpha, too," I let it all out in a rush, like I usually did when telling my dad any werewolf stuff. I just always felt relieved to finally be able to tell someone that it all came falling out of me.

My dad took a second to respond, probably trying to let it all sink in, trying to understand what the rush of words were. Then he nodded slowly.

"Derek Hale… He was only a few years older than you right? And his sister was who took care of him right? Laura?" I nodded. "Okay, yeah, I remember them. All the Hales were good people, I remember your mom liked them quite a bit. Okay, so you're going to ask for help? Or see how everything goes first?" He asked me.

"I'm going to see how my introduction goes, and then maybe ask them for help? Or see if they offer? They may not want to work with me, considering I'm a very inexperienced Alpha and may be of no use to them," I explained to my dad.

"Well, you're always of great use to me, son," my dad told me, putting his hand on my cheek. I leaned into it slightly, my wolf was always happy when my last parent was around. Dad's presence was always very comforting and calming for me.

"Thanks dad," I smiled at him, earning myself a smile back. "Okay, I'm going to go see him now, Scott's at work so I won't have to worry about anything with him for now," I told him. He hugged me again.

"Be safe, I know the Hale's are good people, but we haven't seen them in five years. And a lot can happen in five years," he told me, his eyes growing dark. We both knew that all too much. My mom had been alive five years ago.

"I'll be careful dad," I promised him. "I'll see you tonight when you're done work and I'll let you know how everything works out." I left his office, smiled at the officers there, and went back out to my Jeep.

I could feel myself getting really nervous. I wish I could say it was just because I was revealing myself to someone for this first time in years, but that wasn't all, that was barely any of the problem. No, I was also nervous because I was going to see Derek again. And he was just ridiculously attractive. Like he had always been a good-looking kid, like he was adorable and sweet in that 15-year-old way, but now…

"Focus, Stiles!" I told myself, because I was getting far too worked up over him and I needed to get my feelings under control. I could not have my chemo-signals basically pointing to myself like a neon sign telling him how much I wanted to bone him. That would not be helpful to the situation at hand.

"Okay, just relax, this isn't that big of a deal, I remember Laura being really cool, and Derek hadn't seemed too bad today. Just sad, and a little defensive, but that's to be expected – his family had been murdered on that land…" I rambled to myself, trying to distract from my 'Derek is sexy' feelings until I got to the reserve.

I jumped out of the Jeep when I got there, getting excited. I got to run, and the woods was the only place I got to do it. I didn't do it much, just in case anyone saw, especially a hunter. And now I needed to be particularly careful about hunters because the Argent's were back in Beacon Hills and, though they had a code, they weren't exactly known for being friendly to any werewolves. Age didn't matter. Sometimes actions didn't either.

I began running, and all my worries were forgotten, if only for a moment. It felt so nice to just be again, it had been too long. I was just feeling the air rush past me, the leaves under my feet, smelling the trees and – _fuck!_

I felt something hard hit me, and suddenly I was under a dark mass of teeth, growls, and glowing blue eyes.

"Derek?" I wheezed. Getting hit by a wolf as solid as Derek would definitely knock the wind out of anyone, especially if that someone was a gangly, scrawny teenager, Alpha-status aside.

"Wait," Derek half-growled, sounding confused. "You're the kid from earlier, the friend of the kid that got bit," he moved off me and sat on the ground. He was back to being human again, and _of course_ my heart picked up again.

I mean, it was already racing from being tackled. But still.

"Uh, yeah, hey," I said, eloquent as usual. "Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier, Scott doesn't know… that I'm… y'know…" I tried to explain. I was off to a good start.

"Wait, he doesn't? How long have you been a werewolf?" He asked me, probably surprised that I had been able to keep this a secret from Scott.

"I was born, like you," I told him.

"You… know who I am?" He asked, seeming a little suspicious again.

"Oh, yeah! Fuck, sorry I forgot I still haven't told you my name! We've actually met before, our moms were good friends," I told him. "I'm Stiles, I don't know if you remember me all that much, you're four years older than me. But my-"

"Your mom is Claudia Stilinski," he cut in. I felt my heart drop. "Yeah, I remember, I'm surprised I didn't recognize you. You don't smell… the same," he told me.

"Yeah, I hide it now, because my mom, she uh-she," I always had a hard time telling people this. I flashed my eyes, he would understand.

" _Oh_ ," he breathed, realizing that she was dead and that's why I was an Alpha now. "Stiles I'm so sorry," he told me. I could hear that he meant it.

"Thanks, it's been a few years now," I replied, forcing myself to keep my grief in check. I could see he knew what was going on in me and he understood. Of course he did.

"I'm assuming you came to ask me what I was doing back here," he guessed, and I was grateful for the subject change. I nodded. "I came looking for Laura, actually," he told me.

"Looking for her? She isn't with you?" I had just assumed they had come back together, they were the only two left in their pack.

"She's dead."

I was frozen for a moment, the overwhelming scent of despair, loss, grief, was almost suffocating. I leaned forward to grab his hand before I had even thought about what I was doing. He looked taken aback but he didn't seem bothered by it – he actually squeezed my hand back.

"It was her… Oh Derek, I'm so sorry, I know you two were close," I told him. I knew there wasn't much I could do in way of comfort. "She came looking for the Alpha, right?" I asked him.

He just nodded. I could see he was doing everything he could to control his emotions, which was something I understood well. After my mom had died I had torn apart most of my house because I couldn't keep my temper in check.

"I'm going to help you find this Alpha. I've been looking already, my dad has been trying his best to help me, but he's human and can only do so much," I offered.

"Your dad?" He asked, and I realized why that might be confusing.

"Yeah, sorry, he's the Sheriff, so he'll let us know everything we need to know. I'm going to need to tell him that it was Laura that we found…" I trailed off. I wasn't sure how much Derek knew about his sister's murder and I didn't know how much he _wanted_ to know.

"I have the other half of her body, buried beside my house. I'll need to tell him, won't I?" He asked me. He sounded so lost, I just wanted to do everything I could to help him.

"I can go with you, if that'll help?" I offered. And then another question came to mind. "Where are you staying?" I hadn't even thought about it, but I had only seen him in these woods.

"That would probably be much easier, having you there," he told me. I raised my eyebrow, waiting for an answer to the second question. "… And I'm staying in my house," he added quietly.

"Okay, not anymore," I told him. He raised his eyebrow at me, a mirror of what I had just done but I knew it looked much better on his face than mine. "You're staying with me."

"Stiles, I can't, I'll be fine," he argued.

I growled, flashing my eyes at him. I wasn't going to let him sleep in the burnt-out shell of the place where his family burned alive, in the forest where his sister had been torn apart.

He growled back, but more out of frustration than a challenge. I may not be _his_ Alpha, but I was still an Alpha.

"Fine," he ground out between his teeth.

"Don't sound so pleased," I chuckled, jumping up, offering him my hand. He looked at it like he wasn't sure if he wanted to accept it, before taking it and letting me pull him to his feet.

"Thanks," he said grudgingly. I laughed again. He looked so grumpy, his eyebrows drawn together, and his mouth set in a scowl. It was pretty ridiculous that he was so annoyed that I was making him accept my hospitality.

We walked to my Jeep in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable, which for me was unusual because silence always made me uncomfortable. I got in the front seat and started her before I realized Derek hadn't gotten into the passenger seat.

"Derek, you might as well get in the Jeep, you know that if I really wanted to, I would be able to make you," I warned him, a slight smirk on my face and my eyes flashing red at him again as a reminder.

He growled again and climbed into the vehicle, slamming the door harder than necessary.

"Hey, watch yourself! She deserves to be treated with respect," I scolded him.

"'She'?" He asked me, and I could hear the amusement in his voice. I looked at him and could see the same amusement lighting up his already gorgeous eyes and I was momentarily stunned. My mind went blank and my other senses caught up with me and I realized how strong his scent was in this in such a small space. It smelled even better when it was this close, this concentrated.

I shook my head, clearing it and trying to regain my composure. It's a good thing I normally got distracted because it probably wasn't that weird for him to watch me pull myself back to the present. I really needed to get better control of myself because if I gave off any scents or chemo-signals that indicated my attraction to him… My being an Alpha wouldn't save me from him probably ripping me in half.

"Of course the Jeep is a 'she,'" I told him, my tone implying that it was the most obvious thing. "Look at her! She's gorgeous! Magnificent! If she was a woman, and if I was into women, I would probably go for the human-version of this Jeep," I was rambling, mostly trying to distract myself from showing any indication that I wanted to fuck Derek senseless and not really paying attention to what I was saying.

"That's... what the fuck?" He asked me, beginning to laugh more than I had seen him laugh ever – not that that was saying much. I couldn't help but smile, he looked so perfect when he laughed, it was my favourite expression that I had seen on his face so far.

"I'm just saying, she's gorgeous and she deserves to be treated gently," I told him, chuckling.

"Okay, I'll remember that next time, I apologize," he told me, a smile still spread over his face.

"Thank you," I told him, flashing him a smile of my own.

We drove in silence after that until we got to my place, and again, it wasn't as awkward as silence normally was for me. It was nice, very comfortable.

I pulled in the drive way, parking where there would be enough room for my dad when he got done work.

"Okay, so, my dad isn't home yet, but I'll make us dinner and he can reheat it when he gets done work," I told Derek, jumping out of the Jeep and going to unlock the door. I was glad it was dark outside at this point because that meant none of my neighbours could see me coming home with Derek Hale and assuming the worst. I just didn't want to deal with it when it got out that he came home just when his sister turned up dead. People were assholes and loved to gossip and it made my dad's life very difficult sometimes.

"Awesome, I'm starving," he told me, following me in the house and taking his shoes off, leaving them on the mat beside mine. "Wait, you can cook?" He asked me, seemingly surprised.

"Well, after mom died, Dad was working a lot and was never really that great at cooking, so I taught myself. I was getting very tired of eating takeout," I told him, laughing a bit. He smirked in a knowing way.

"Yeah, that was the same with Laura and me," he told me, sitting in the kitchen chair like he had been here a million time already. Which he may well have been, whenever Talia came over and brought him with her.

"Well, you let me know if my cooking is shit, because Dad might be lying just to appease me," I told him. I pulled out some pork chops, potatoes, green beans, and carrots. This was actually what I had been planning on making for tonight anyways. It was a lucky coincidence that I had pulled out enough food for leftovers when taking it out of the freezer yesterday.

"I'll be sure to let you know, it will probably be fine though," he assured me. "I haven't had a kitchen for a week, so I haven't been able to cook anything. I've been eating a lot of take out and I am also pretty tired of it," he told me, smirking a bit.

"Well, you won't find takeout here that often, so you will be well-fed while staying here," I told him, possibly a little more enthusiastically than necessary. I was just excited that I could help someone, that was all, I swear.

"I really appreciate you letting me stay here," he told me. His obvious sincerity caught me off guard for a minute, I was used to him being either grouchy or smirky.

"Uh, yeah, no problem," I stuttered. I turned around to the food, trying to hide the blush creeping up my neck and into my cheeks.

It was silent again while I was cutting up vegetables and cooking the pork chops, but I could tell he was thinking about something, so I didn't try to break the silence. Just waited until he felt like talking.

"So," he started, once I was done and we were just sitting at the table, drinking soda and waiting for everything to finish cooking.

"So," I prompted when he didn't continue his thought. He seemed to be struggling with how to start what he was trying to say. He took a deep breath, seeming to prepare himself.

"So, you're gay," he said.

I nearly choked on my soda. It wasn't exactly a secret, but I honestly hadn't been expecting that that was what he was trying to say.

"Oh my god," he said, sounding panicked – did he forget I was a werewolf and choking on soda wasn't going to kill me? His hand hovered over my back, maybe unsure of whether or not I needed help. I held my hand up to let him know I was fine.

"Y-yeah, I'm gay," I confirmed once I had finally stopped coughing.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to… upset you, or anything," he said awkwardly.

"No! No, it's fine, it isn't a secret or anything," I told him quickly. "No, it was just I wasn't expecting that. How did you know though?" I asked him.

"Earlier you said if your Jeep was a woman, and if you were interested in women, you would probably be interested in the human-version of your Jeep," he told me. He looked extremely confused at the fact that I did not remember saying that.

"Oh," I replied. "Okay, yeah, that sounds like something I would say. Sorry, sometimes I ramble when I'm nervous and don't even realize what I'm saying. Okay, yeah, I am gay, 100% like dudes," I began to ramble again before clamping my lips together to stop the words.

"You were nervous?" He asked. Fuck, I was _not_ doing a good job controlling myself. I just nodded, not trusting myself to only say what was necessary.

"Why?" He asked, sounding slightly hurt. He definitely looked a little hurt. And I didn't want that. I really didn't want him to be hurt by me in any way.

"Because you're really hot!" I blurted, yelling way too loudly for him to be sitting three feet away from me. I slapped my hands over my mouth, my eyes widening in horror. I would have run for it if I wasn't frozen to the spot.

Derek's eyes were also slightly wider than usual, and his mouth was hanging open a little as well. He looked like he had just been punched and was still in shock. His eyes adopting a slightly blue glow was when I snapped out of it, jumping out of my chair and backing up against the counter.

"Holy fuck, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to say that, please don't kill me," I was speaking much too fast and it was lucky that Derek wasn't human because I don't know if he would have been able to understand me if he was.

"Stiles, relax," Derek said, but I couldn't hear him over the sound of my absolute panic and embarrassment. "I can't believe I just fucking said that out loud." Derek was getting out of his chair. I still wasn't paying attention and I was pacing now. "I have been trying to control myself all fucking day and I had been doing so well, but I guess I was focusing too much on masking my scent, so you couldn't smell how badly I wanted you." I didn't really notice the spike in Derek's heartbeat as he walked towards me. "But you just looked so sad that I might have been nervous around you or something and I didn't want to ever be the reason you were sad, ever, and I just couldn't hold the words in and now you're probably going to kill me or punch me or something, which I get, I totally get-"

"STILES!" Derek grabbed my shoulders and stopped my pacing, forcing me to look in his eyes. That was not helpful with my nerves and attraction to him.

"Oh god, please don't-"

"Stiles, I'm not going to kill you, I'm not upset," he told me very calmly, and he meant it.

"Wait, really?" I asked, totally stunned. He let go of my shoulders, going to the stove to turn it off because the food was done and was probably about to burn. He grabbed plates and dished out the food.

"Yeah, it's fine," he told me, going to sit down at the table with our plates. He looked at me and smirked. "Sit down and eat Stiles, it's delicious," he said after taking a bite.

I grinned, relieved that the food was good and that I wasn't going to die, throwing myself back into my chair.

"I'm sorry I kinda freaked out," I apologized, a little embarrassed. "I didn't say anything too bad, did I?"

He hesitated for half a second before saying, "No. Don't worry about it. And besides," he added, smirking at me again. I was beginning to think it was his permanent expression when he wasn't scowling.

"You aren't the first gay guy to be attracted to me."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading!
> 
> I will be continuing this story for sure, but I can't guarantee how quickly I will be updating so you will have to be patient with me. I'm in my second year of university so I try to write as much as I can but I don't always have time. I'm only writing this and posting it so that I have something that I love doing this much to look forward to.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter! I have no idea where this is going or how long it will be so I am looking forward to where this story take me.
> 
> Let me know what you think! Review/Favourite/Follow! Thanks again! I will try to get the next chapter up as soon as I possibly can!


	2. Blame

“Dad, this is Derek Hale. Derek, this is my dad,” I introduced the two of them.

“Hi Derek, good to see you again,” my dad said, shaking Derek’s hand and sitting down. He had gotten home an hour after Derek and me, so I was just reheating his food for him.

“You too, I just wish it was under better circumstances,” Derek said, sitting back down in his seat as well.

“Yeah, the Alpha is causing a lot of trouble for us-”

“Uh, dad,” I interrupted. “Derek and I need to talk to you.”

My dad nodded his head but said nothing else. I gave him his food and sat down as well. I looked at Derek to see if he wanted me to explain everything. He nodded slightly.

“Okay so, Derek didn’t come back with his sister. He came back to look for her, because she had come looking for the Alpha and then he hadn’t heard from her,” I started, wincing slightly at the grief coming off of Derek again in waves. “The girl you found in the woods…” I trailed off, hoping my dad got it. I really didn’t want to have to put Derek through a conversation that was more painful than necessary.

“Oh, son,” he looked at Derek and grasped his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.” There wasn’t really much to say to Derek, but we both understood what he was going through. Derek nodded his head in understanding and we could both see he was grateful.

“He buried the other half of her body beside his house,” I told him. “We decided that we would dig it up and then call it in anonymously for you to come get it somewhere away from his place so that he can’t be linked to the murder any further. He just didn’t know who to trust and he was obviously very emotional when he found her,” I explained to my dad. He didn’t seem all that surprised though, which was one reason I loved my dad. He didn’t seem to be too shocked by anything supernatural anymore.

“Okay, that sounds like a good enough plan,” Dad told us, nodding slowly.

“And one last thing…” I wasn’t sure how my dad would react to me inviting Derek without asking him first. I didn’t think he would kick him out or anything, but still.

“Oh god Stiles, what did you do?” He asked me exasperatedly.

“Nothing! Why do you always assume I’ve done something?” I demanded, only slightly offended at the implication.

“Your track record does _not_ help you,” he laughed at me. “What is it Stiles?”

“I invited Derek to stay with us for a while because he was just staying in the Hale house,” I told him. “For a week,” I added, for emphasis.

“You were _what_?” Dad asked Derek. Of all things to shock the man, this was it. There were times when it was painfully obvious that he was my father, and I could tell by the look on Derek’s face that this was one of those times, considering I had reacted similarly earlier.

“I didn’t really have anywhere else to stay, and I was trying to lay low because the Argent’s are back in town, and I didn’t know about Stiles,” Derek justified himself, the words coming out in a rush. He looked slightly wary of the expression on my dad’s face. He didn’t seem angry, just bewildered. His expression softened when Derek finished explaining.

“Well, now you have a house to live in, for as long as you need,” he told Derek, giving him a fatherly smile. Derek smiled back, relieved that he wasn’t going to be yelled at or something of the sort. “The spare room is beside Stiles’ though, so you might have to put up with his snoring,” he smirked.

“I don’t snore! It was one time and I had a cold!” I yelled, probably flailing more than necessary, making my dad and Derek laugh. “Fine, I’ll go and get Derek’s room ready,” I huffed. But I couldn’t really be that annoyed because Dad had gotten Derek to laugh.

“I’ll help,” Derek called after me, following me up the stairs. I smiled to myself before hiding it. I didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable around me now that he knew I had a massively inappropriate crush on him.

“Thanks,” I laughed, leading him to the spare room. I took the extra blankets out of the closet and made up the bed for him.

“Do you have anything, like clothes or something? I didn’t even think to ask if you needed to grab anything from your house earlier,” I realized he hadn’t brought anything into the Jeep.

“Uh, no, not really. I mean I have a toothbrush and toothpaste at my place and some clothes in my car, but this is my last pair, and that’s about it. I didn’t really plan on being here for very long,” he admitted. “It’s fine, really. I can just go out and get stuff tomorrow.”

“Come here, we’ll see what I have in my room. And I have an unused toothbrush that you can use,” I told him, walking to the next room down the hall.

“Stiles, really, I’ll be fine for one night. I can’t hide the fact that I’m here any longer now that my sister is going to show up dead…” He told me sadly. It took everything I had not to hug him because I felt for him, I really did, but I didn’t know if the limits of our relationship had changed since my embarrassing reveal of attraction. So, I didn’t hug him, or touch him, or anything.

But I would be damned if I wasn’t the perfectly hospitable Alpha.

“Derek, just let me help you, please,” I practically pleaded with him. He grumbled and said something about ‘unnecessary’ and ‘frustratingly stubborn,’ but he nodded _while_ he grumbled. So, I took that as a win.

“Thank you!” I grinned widely at him before turning to my closet and trying to find something that would fit Derek. All I could find was a pair of sweatpants.

“That’s fine, thank you,” he told me, when I apologized for not having a shirt. His shoulders were much broader than mine. “Can I just… wash these clothes tonight? So that I have something to wear out tomorrow? Because I will most definitely need to wear a shirt in public,” he joked.

It took every ounce of control that I had to not make a comment on how him being shirtless was probably a public service.

“Uh, yeah, just give me your clothes when you change, and I’ll put them in the wash for you,” I offered.

And then a miracle happened. Or maybe it was the opposite of a miracle. It was like the Devil trying to tempt me. This was Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden levels of temptation.

He just started getting undressed right there, pulling his shirt over his head before I could realize what was even happening. I whipped around before he started taking any more clothes off, and I could feel the heat rushing to my face. I squeezed my eyes shut to concentrate on keeping away my arousal – or at least any tangible proof of it. I could feel my eyes flashing and my teeth growing slightly, and I forced myself to control that, as well.

“Stiles? Are you… okay?” I heard Derek ask very quietly behind me. I nodded in response, not trusting my voice. “Are you sure? You’re growling,” he told me, still speaking quietly, like he was worried I was going to attack him if he made any sudden movements.

Wait, I was growling? Fuck.

I took a few deep breaths, running my hands over my hair to anchor me again. Today was not my best on the self-control scale. But it wasn’t my worst either.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” I told him turning around, after preparing myself for him to be shirtless. It still took my breath away. I couldn’t help the red tinge that flashed in my eyes. “Sorry, I just seem to be struggling with self-control today. Let me take those, I’ll bring them downstairs. The toothbrush is in my cupboard in the bathroom right there,” I added hastily before sprinting at full-speed downstairs, his clothes in hand.

I threw them in the washing machine and added my shirt and jeans because they were covered in dirt and grass. I regretted not thinking about bringing clothes to change into, but it was too late now. I would just have to go upstairs in only my underwear and hope I didn’t blind him with my scrawny and pale body.

I walked to the kitchen, to my dad who was finishing a beer and probably waiting for me to say goodnight, like I did every night. He raised an eyebrow at my near nudity.

“I threw Derek’s clothes in the laundry and realized that mine were dirty and needed to be washed, too,” I explained.

“Alright then. So,” he started, a slight smirk on his face. “Derek sure has grown up quite a bit in the last five years,” he said his smirk growing into a full-blown grin when he saw the blush creep into my cheeks again.

“Good _night_ , Dad,” I told him very pointedly, not wanting to have this conversation with him, ever. Least of all with me in my underwear. So many things could go wrong.

“Goodnight, Stiles, have a good sleep,” he told me, getting up and walking to the living room.

I shook my head and complained under my breath the whole way up the stairs about Dad and his being ridiculously observant at the worst times, but mostly about Derek and his stupid attractive face, and ridiculous six pack that I definitely did _not_ want to lick. No sir.

I walked into my room, still complaining, and grabbed a shirt to wear to bed. I was so caught up in my mumbling that I didn’t notice the eyes staring at me until I had turned around and I saw him sitting on my bed. I almost missed the blue tinge to his eyes before he blinked, and it was gone. Almost.

“Fucking hell, dude!” I yelled, before nearly knocking several things off my dresser and almost falling into my closet. Strong hands grabbed my arms before I could actually fall and pulled me upright again.

“Wow, you’re very clumsy and easily startled for a werewolf,” he laughed. I noticed how close his face was to mine and I knew my heart was racing at least three times faster than was normal, not just from him scaring the shit out of me.

“Ha,” I chuckled weakly.

“Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he added, awkward but sincere. He still hadn’t let go of my arms and his face was still only inches away from mine.

Yesterday, if anyone had told me that I would be standing in my room, inches from a Godlike man while we were both shirtless I would have thought they were just being an asshole. Well, how life could sometimes surprise you.

“Yeah, it’s-it’s alright,” I whispered.

I honestly didn’t know what happened, or what made me think it was a good idea, but it was like something had taken over my body and I was just a passenger along for the ride.

I leaned forward and kissed him, my hands in his hair. Too quickly, my brain caught up with what I was doing, and I practically ripped my body out of his grip. I knew I was half wolfed out, teeth longer than normal, eyes a bright red, and I was panting, and I knew he could smell and _see_ my arousal.

“Fuck fuck fuckfuckfuck. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what the hell just happened. Like I said, my self-control is _terrible_ today. Uh, I have to go to the… bathroom, yeah. Bathroom,” I rambled before running into the bathroom and quickly locking the door behind me.

I slid down the door until I was sitting with my head in my hands. Telling Derek that I thought he was hot was one thing, but actually _kissing him_? That was practically suicidal. I was surprised he hadn’t tried to break my neck or-

And then I realized something.

“Wait. Were you-did you kiss me back?” I asked through the door knowing that he was still in my room. He had thrown himself onto my bed when I had run into the bathroom.

“…Yes,” he told me, somewhat reluctantly. Holy shit. I wasn’t crazy. Not about this anyways.

“Well, fuck me,” I whispered in astonishment before scrambling to stand up and practically falling through the door into my room. I turned to face Derek on the bed. “You… _you_ kissed _me_ back? Why?” I asked.

Now let’s get something straight. I was not a self-deprecating individual but like… Derek was way out of my league, no question. He was what you imagined when you thought ‘Alpha Wolf’ and I was what you pictured when you thought ‘Omega – Bitch of the Pack.’

“Because you’re attractive?” He said, like he didn’t understand why I would ask a question that he deemed so stupid. “You’re funny, caring, intelligent, and I’ve known you for forever. I remember you from when we were younger Stiles. I always thought you were the funniest kid, you always had some new fact to tell us, some joke that was hilarious,” he told me. I could feel the look of shock on my face.

“But… are you gay?” I asked, not knowing what to say to that information just yet.

“No, Stiles. I’m bi,” he said exasperatedly, smirking at the fact that _that_ was the question I had right now. I mean, I thought it was a valid question, given the situation.

“Sorry, I’m still… processing everything. I’m just very confused as to why you would be interested in me when you’re, well, _you_ ,” I said, waving my hand in his generally direction as if to say _You’re gorgeous and perfect and could get literally anyone you want_.

“I don’t understand what that means-”

“Wait!” I cut him off again as I realized something. “When you first saw Scott and I in the woods. You wouldn’t stop looking at Scott and I could smell that you were, uhm…” I drifted off, not knowing how to finish that sentence.

I’d never had a guy be attracted to me. At least not that I knew about.

“That I was turned on? Yeah, I was looking at Scott to stop myself from jumping you and trying to scent you right there. Let’s remember I didn’t know you were a wolf,” he smirked at me again.

“Why would you scent me? I’ve been attracted to people before-” Derek growled, but I ignored it, “-and I’ve never felt the need to have them _right then_ ,” I told him, confused. “Actually, I was controlling myself from doing the same thing when I first saw you, too,” I added, more to myself than him.

“Stiles, what did your mom tell you about mates?” Derek asked me.

I looked at him, confused about the sudden subject change, until I realized. _It wasn’t a subject change_. Mom had told me everything about mates that she had known.

They were... kinda rare. I mean, not once-every-hundred-years rare, but not everyone had a Mate. It's not like people only ever got with their mates, and not everyone found their mate. But if you did find a Mate, that was definitely it. You never left, because if you lost that person a part of you died. The bond between Mates made them more powerful and losing a Mate was worse than losing family, losing Pack. It was apparently like part of your heart died, like your soul was ripped apart. It was more common between two wolves, but it wasn't unheard of for it to be a wolf and a human.

“You’re saying… We-we’re-? What?” I couldn’t seem to get my brain to make any coherent speech. “But, that doesn’t make sense. We would have been devastated when you left, when we were separated-”

“No Stiles, it doesn’t appear until you’re around 14 or something. I mean, now that I know, it makes sense, because I’ve been feeling it since we left, but I just thought it was because, well, my entire family died. But now, almost all of that pain is gone. I was very confused in the forest because I didn’t think you were a wolf, and so I didn’t understand the pull I had towards you,” he told me, sounding relieved that he could finally say all this out loud.

“Is this why I’ve been having control issues for the past two years? Because I thought it was because my mom had died, and I just wasn’t coping well, but it had been weird that after so much time had passed I was still having such a hard time. This makes so much more sense,” I sighed in relief.

“Yeah, I’ve been having the same thing. I couldn’t really be around regular people for that long because Laura and I were so worried about me giving anything away. I think Laura knew, I think Mom had told her what was going on before… everything,” he told me, a hint of sadness filtering through the air. But I could tell that, like me, he felt relieved for all of this to make sense.

“How would your mom have known?” I whispered. It was like we were in a bubble and if one of us spoke too loudly, the bubble would pop, and everything would be completely different.

“Well, uh,” he seemed a little embarrassed this time, and the blush creeping into his cheeks was adorable. I moved closer to him, very slowly.

“Derek,” I whispered his name, ignoring how I said it like it was a lifeline, like the very sound of it could keep me anchored to the Earth. “You can trust me,” I told him. I knew that he would have a hard time accepting that others could be trusted, and I would have to prove it to him.

I guess he saw something in my face that he believed because he nodded and took a deep breath, like he was bracing himself for something. Maybe he was, I didn’t know.

“Well, a few months before my fourteenth birthday, I started asking a lot about you. I wanted to know when you and your mom were coming over, when we were going to see you. Whenever she would ask me why I would just tell her because I thought you were really funny, and your mom was really nice to me,” he looked at me then, his eyes shining. He honestly hadn’t told anyone this before, I could tell.

“But,” he paused then, and took another deep breath. “But it was just because I felt more relaxed around you, happier, and I couldn’t explain it. You were just a 10-year-old kid that was hyperactive and never shut up, but I couldn’t help constantly wanting to be around you,” he whispered. I was lucky I had wolf-hearing because I had to listen hard to catch everything.

“Derek,” I breathed. I didn’t know what else to say, but I knew what he was explaining. I had felt it today in the few hours between seeing him in the forest. I was still slowly moving toward him, but he was still halfway across the room, sitting on the edge of the bed and staring at me.

“I felt it the entire time I was in New York, but by the time I figured it out, I refused to want to feel it. I don’t deserve-”

I ran across the room and jumped on him, smashing my lips against his for the second time tonight. This time though I put a lot behind it – my fear, my grief, my anger that I had been feeling for years, but also the happiness, relief, love that I had been feeling as well and that his presence made me feel.

He was doing the same thing, we could smell and feel the emotions that we were both drowning in and it made the kiss that much better. His lips against mine were soft and warm, and the slight stubble burn felt wonderful against my face. His hands were strong on the small of my back and against my cheek, and my hands were trailing through his hair and over every inch of skin that I could reach. He shivered when my fingers trailed down his spine and moaned quietly when I moved my mouth to nip at the skin of his collar bone.

“Don’t be cliché and tell me you don’t deserve love or happiness, Derek Hale,” I told him, my voice much huskier than usual after the kissing and the emotions behind it. I nipped at the skin under his ear, earning me another groan.

“I’m not saying it to be cliché, Stiles. I don’t deserve it,” he whispered again. I growled and pulled away to look him in the eyes.

“Why?” I demanded. He looked away from me, avoiding my eyes. “Derek, I don’t know what you think you did to deserve that, but I can tell you that you’re wrong,” I told him gently.

“Stiles, you don’t understand.” He was whispering still, and he sounded so pained, like every word was physically being ripped out of his body. I grabbed his face, leaning my forehead against his and just breathed him in for a moment. I realized then that this was honestly what I had been needing – him.

“Then help me to understand, please, I want to help you,” I breathed. I felt him shudder and I could tell he was trying not cry. I put my hand on the back of his neck and waited, for as long as he needed. It could have been seconds, minutes, hours, I didn’t know but I gave him all the time he needed to calm down.

“It’s my fault,” he choked out finally. ‘They’re all dead and it’s my fault. I trusted her and believed she loved me, and I told her everything she needed to know to kill them.” He was crying in earnest now and I moved us around so that we were laying down. I wrapped my arms around him and let him cry into my chest until he was done.

I guess he didn’t need to cry for very long because he stopped very quickly. I wasn’t surprised honestly, I was surprised he had shown as much emotion as he had.

Maybe this was the first time he had let himself feel all of this in front of someone. Maybe it was just because it was already an emotional moment.

“Derek, you know I don’t know who you’re talking about, right?” I questioned. I didn’t want to push this topic, but I couldn’t help if I didn’t know everything.

“Kate,” he told me, disgust in every letter. “ _Kate Argent_.”

I froze. I knew that wasn’t a helpful response for Derek in this situation, but I couldn’t really control it.

Derek and Kate? Derek and _an Argent?_ _Derek and someone else that wasn’t me?_ I was trying not to growl, I really was, but my wolf was pissed that someone else had touched Derek, _hurt_ Derek. I knew, despite my efforts to control the growl, he could feel it and hear it building up in my chest.

“Stiles,” he murmured in my ear, putting his hand on my chest. “Stiles, it’s alright, she’s not around anymore. And even if she was, I hate her and want nothing to do with her, it’s alright,” he soothed. I breathed out slowly and felt myself relax.

“I know, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get upset like that. Besides, now is not the time for me to be getting jealous. Now is the time for me to tell you that you, Derek Hale, are very wrong,” he raised his eyebrow at me again in indignation.

“Oh? How so?”

“In what way is that your fault? You were 15 and you trusted someone that you thought you loved. You didn’t conspire with her to kill them and you had no idea what she was going to use the information for,” I told him. I’m sure he could hear the absolute certainty in my voice and in my unwavering heartbeat. “Kate made the decision to tear your family apart, to ruin you and that is on her, not you,” I said, much more forcefully than may have been necessary, but I knew he thought I was just saying it to make him feel better.

“Stiles…” he started, absentmindedly rubbing his hand along my chest.

“No, Derek, listen to me,” I told him, making him look in my eyes again. “Do I strike you as the kind of guy to just say things to make people feel better? Do I seem like someone who doesn’t know how the law or anything like that works? Do I seem like an idiot?”

“…no. You don’t seem like any of that to me,” he admitted, somewhat begrudgingly.

“Well, why the fuck would this be any different?”

“It’s just… it’s my fault, Stiles,” he told me, his jaw set.

“Fine, then by that logic, it’s my fault my mother was killed.” If he wanted to be stubborn about this, then fine. I could play that game better than anyone else.

He stared at me, confused. My dad and I were the only two people alive that knew what had happened to my mother – it wasn’t like we could tell anyone else. We had just told everyone that it had been a poison that she had ingested in her food, we didn’t know what it was or how she had done it.

“My mother and I were out in the woods, running, because I had begged her to go for a run with me. It was, and still is, my favourite thing about what we are,” I told him, refusing to let my voice shake because I was refusing to let him blame himself for this any longer. “A hunter was in town that we hadn’t known about, and he saw us, and shot at us. It was dark, and he didn’t see us well enough, so he didn’t shoot her accurately enough to kill her, not right away anyways. But she killed him, to keep him from shooting me, too, and if she hadn’t protected me she probably would have lived. But, by the time we got home, the wolfsbane had spread too much and there was nothing we could do except stay with her.”

I was breathing heavily in the effort to keep my emotions in check, but I think I had made my point.

“Derek,” I said gently, “I may have asked my mom to run with me, I may have been the reason she didn’t have time to get the wolfsbane out, but it wasn’t my fault she died. I used to blame myself, too, until my dad had gotten through to me that even if my mom didn’t want to die, she would have done it again if it meant I would live. Things happen, and they suck, but blaming ourselves when it isn’t really our fault doesn’t bring them back. What it _does do_ is cause you to stop living your life because you don’t believe you can without them,” I told him.

“I-I understand what you’re saying, I really do. But you know this is going to take me a while to change my mind, if I ever do, right?” He asked me. I nodded, and he smiled at me, causing my soul to expand and my heart to melt into a gross gooey mess.

“I know,” I sighed, petting his hair like my mom used to do to me. “But, I’ll help you get there okay?”

He smiled and snuggled further into me. If I wasn’t an Alpha this would probably feel odd with him, a big, muscly guy cuddling into the scrawny, pale kid. But I was the Alpha – I guess I was _his_ Alpha, if that’s what he wanted, and this just felt right.

“Can I sleep here tonight?” He asked through a yawn, his eyes already sliding shut.

“Of course,” I assured him, smiling. My dad probably wouldn’t be happy when he came to check on me in the morning and found Derek practically wrapped around me, but I would explain that and honestly, I didn’t really care right now. This was how things were supposed to be, I could feel it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: 29 July 2018. I realized I fucked up with the Mates thing because I said it was super rare and that only two wolves could be Mates, and that doesn't work with future chapters, so I just fixed that paragraph.
> 
> ~
> 
> Okay so this was written and published much faster than I thought it was going to be! But sadly, I won't have time to write much because I have about 5 assignments due in the next month and then I have finals after that, but I will do my best!
> 
> I know that the relationship is moving really fast, but in my head the mate thing in this story is just something that happens, and because they're both feeling it they just accept it. Also, it isn't necessarily about love - it can start out like any relationship of people just being really close friends, and it can progress as time goes on. I'm only saying this because of the whole 'Derek felt comforted by Stiles when they were both really young' thing. I'm very much against any underage stuff, so it isn't anything sexual until they're older and can both consent.
> 
>  
> 
> Hopefully this wasn't too bad, considering I rushed it and wrote this in my classes when I should have been paying attention to the prof!
> 
> Let me know what you think and thank you for reading!


	3. Revelations

I woke up, slightly confused and disoriented, not understanding why I could feel the heat of another person curled up against my side. I wasn’t _unhappy_ about this warmth and what it meant, I just couldn’t remember who it was or why they were clinging to me like a monkey. I opened my eyes, squinting against the sunlight that was beginning to filter in through my window and then suddenly my eyes widened in shock when everything from last night came flooding back.

Derek Hale. Was my mate. And he was wrapped around me like if he let go I might disappear and this might all be a dream.

I could relate to that fear. This just didn’t seem real, it felt like I was still sleeping and was having the weirdest, best dream.

I forced myself not to jump when I heard my door open, almost silently. I turned my head to see my dad, smirking at me and Derek on the bed – not the reaction I was prepared for, but way better than the outburst that I had been dreading.

“Don’t talk, I don’t want you to wake him up,” my dad breathed, just loud enough for me to hear. Derek wouldn’t hear it unless he was already awake, which I knew he wasn’t. I nodded, completely bewildered. This was _not_ going where I thought it was.

“I already knew, your mom told me – Talia told her right after it began. But I didn’t know how to tell you that the reason you were so agitated for so long was because your wolf was missing someone they hadn’t seen in years. I had to wait it out,” he explained. Yet another time when Stiles was glad for his dad’s sixth-sense about Stiles. “I’m okay with it, Stiles. Just be respectful of yourself, Derek, and me, please,” he requested, giving me a comforting smile. I smiled back and nodded.

He closed the door and quietly left for work, still careful not to wake Derek. I was grateful for dad’s understanding, and for his generosity to still let Derek stay here, and to allow him to keep sleeping. I was still floored that he wasn’t surprised or upset or anything, but I wasn’t going to question it. I decided to just lay here and let Derek sleep, he definitely needed it. I would text Scott when I got up and tell him I wasn’t going to be in school today.

But I had decided that I needed to tell him about the werewolf thing tonight after school – maybe Derek could help me? I would definitely need to tell him about me being an Alpha, because I couldn’t keep that a secret any longer, and maybe he could be in my pack? Oh shit, I needed to have that conversation with Derek, too, but I didn’t know if it would be a sore subject for him and I didn’t want to upset him. And what if Scott-

“Stiles,” I heard Derek grumble beside me and shove his face against my throat, snuffling a bit before sighing. “Stop worrying about everything right now please, I don’t like when you smell like stress,” he told me, and I could hear how sleepy he still was.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about all the things that I need to do today and all of them are kinda big and stressful and I don’t want to do them but they need to be done and I would rather get them all done on the same day-”

“Stiles,” Derek interrupted my rambling, placing a hand on my chest, right over my heart, almost as if willing it to calm down. “What do we need to do today? I’ll help you figure it all out, that’s what I’m here for,” he assured me. I relaxed slightly.

“I have to ask you something, but mostly I need to deal with the Scott situation,” I told him, shifting to face him. “Do you want to get up and we can eat? We can talk about it over french toast and eggs?” I bribed him, hoping the conversation would go a little smoother if there was food.

“I think I can manage that,” he smirked, “but I don’t want to _move_ ,” he whined. It was the cutest thing, how could a twenty-year-old who looked so stereotypically masculine be this adorable? I wouldn’t have thought it possible before yesterday.

“Come on, we can come back to bed afterward,” I smiled at him, getting a soft smile in return before he sat up and stretched. I stared unabashedly at his arms, and abs, and chest, and, well, all of him because it was all gorgeous. How was this the man that was made for me? I was scrawny and gangly and awkward, and he was so solid and almost graceful.

I sat up slowly, feeling slightly insignificant but I couldn’t avoid it. Derek didn’t seem to mind though, as he made a contented noise and kissed along my shoulder. That made me feel less insecure about myself, if Derek thought I was good enough, I could handle it. I knew I was stronger than I looked and much more powerful than possibly even Derek, but sometimes, after pretending I wasn’t what I was, it kinda gets to me and makes me believe I’m as weak and insignificant as I pretend to be.

“You’re so beautiful,” Derek sighed against my collar bone. I felt myself brighten instantly. _Derek thought I was beautiful_. If I couldn’t hear it, I would have thought he was lying but, well, built-in lie detector.

“Thank you,” I breathed, kissing his temple and pulling him onto my lap. He settled against me, his knees on either side of my hips and him trailing kisses up my throat. He kissed along my jaw, and then met my mouth in a long, lazy kiss. There was no urgency, just us being content to be with each other and to be safe, momentarily anyways.

When we pulled away we rested our foreheads together, still revelling in the feeling of completeness and love. We both also somehow knew that once we left the comfort and warmth of this room everything would be different; the world would come rushing back in and interrupt our little Mate Bubble.

“I believe you promised me french toast?” Derek teased, making me laugh.

“I did do that,” I replied, smiling widely at him and being rewarded with a smile from Derek as well, which was breathtakingly beautiful. “Come on, I can’t make food in the bed,” I told him pushing him lightly. He rolled off me with a grunt and I jumped out of the bed. I went to grab a shirt and heard a whine behind me.

“What was that for?” I asked Derek, smirking at him.

“I didn’t mean to do that, but, I just…” He waved his hand in my direction, causing me to raise an eyebrow. “You have too many clothes on,” he complained.

“Oh, don’t be such a Sourwolf, we can shower together later if you want,” I winked at him, watching him gape at my boldness and then smelling the arousal rolling off of him. My eyes flashed red momentarily when the scent hit me, and I felt a possessive grumble in my chest.

“Shower?” Derek managed to choke out the question, seemingly unable to complete a full thought.

“You need to stop tempting me, or we’re never going to get breakfast,” I warned him, voice rough with restrained arousal. I saw him swallow, whether nervously or excitedly I wasn’t sure but either way, he nodded and followed me downstairs, putting his clothes on that my dad had left in my room before he left, and trying to cover his excitement.

Derek sat at the kitchen table and watched as I moved around the kitchen to grab everything for breakfast. He didn’t push me to say anything, which was nice and exactly what I needed from him right now.

“Okay, so, I’m going to just start with what I need to talk to Scott about and then segue into the ‘you’ stuff after that, once we’re eating,” I told Derek, my back to him as I made the french toast and eggs.

“Okay, whatever you want,” he told me calmly, and then waiting again until I started talking, which was almost immediately. Once I started, I couldn’t stop.

“Okay, so, the thing is, Scott doesn’t know that I’m a werewolf, let alone an _Alpha_. I just never knew how to tell him, he’s never been someone that believes in this stuff, and I didn’t want to chance losing him. I guess I would have needed to tell him eventually, whether he was bitten or not, but now I _really_ need to tell him. So, I want to tell him tonight, after he gets done school, and would you be able to help me? Like moral support, extra proof, more information if I don’t know something, or whatever else,” I let it all out in a rush, finally finishing the food and putting it on the table by the time I was finished. I finally looked up at him, waiting for his answer.

“Of course I’ll help,” he assure me, smiling at me and grabbing a couple pieces of french toast and giving each of us some eggs.

“Thank you,” I breathed out, not sure why I had been nervous about that part. “I’m thinking that maybe, because he doesn’t know who actually bit him, and they don’t seem to be exactly the most stable wolf, maybe he might want to be in my pack – once he gets over the whole “he’s a werewolf, and so am I and I’ve been lying to him for as long as we’ve known each other” thing.”

“I’m sure he will be more than happy to join your pack, he might just need time to adjust, that’s all,” he told me, patting my hand and calming me down enough to keep talking about the part that I was really worried about.

“Okay, the thing I really, actually wanted to talk to you about, I just… I don’t know how you’ll react, I don’t know if it’ll upset you or something…” I trailed off, looking down at my fingers.

“Stiles, you can tell me anything, ask me anything, I promise I won’t be upset,” he told me again, voice soft. I looked into his eyes and saw nothing but sincerity in them. He really meant what he was telling me. I took a deep breath.

“I-I don’t have a pack, I haven’t since my mom died, and even then, the pack was just the two of us. I would really like to have a pack again, even if it is just a small one. And I was wondering… If you would – you don’t have to, not If you don’t want to or it’s too much – but would you want to, I don’t know, maybe… join my pack?” I was whispering by the time I finished talking.

My eyes were clenched shut, my hands fisted on top of the table, ready to bolt if he was mad at how insensitive I was being. His sister, his pack, his _Alpha_ was just murdered, less than a week ago and here I was, asking him-

“Yes.”

-to join my one-man-

“Wait, what?” My eyes flew open and up to his face, and I knew my mouth was gaping unattractively, but I just hadn’t been ready for him to be so ready to join my pathetic little pack.

“Yes, I’ll be in your pack, obviously,” he told me matter-of-factly, taking a huge bite out of his fourth piece of french toast.

“Obviously?” I squeaked, not understanding why he was being so calm about this. I didn’t feel like I was overreacting here, losing a pack member was the worst experience in the world, and he was just so calm talking about it?

“Stiles, it kills me that Laura is dead, it really, truly does, but me getting that overwhelmed and crying about it last night wasn’t something I do that often. And besides, even if she hadn’t died, I probably would have ended up joining your pack anyways. You’re my mate, that’s what happens,” he explained to me. “I was honestly waiting for you to ask me, and I gotta say, it took a you a long time,” he smirked at me.

“I was trying to be sensitive!” I shouted at him, laughing with relief. Derek wanted to be in my pack, my pack had two people in it! My wolf was howling, so excited to not be alone anymore.

I scarfed down my food, barely tasting it. I really wanted to get back upstairs.

I finished eating, rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. I turned around to look at Derek, seeing the amused and slightly bewildered expression on his face.

“You wanna take that shower now?” I asked him, turning around and pulling off my shirt before running up the stairs to my room. I grumbled happily when I heard him behind me, pulling his clothes off, too. I turned around, smirking at how eager Derek was to strip completely naked, even though I had only taken off my shirt.

My smirk grew at the sight of Derek standing there, panting, eyes glowing and his cock straining at his underwear and a growl moving up his throat. I raised my eyebrow at him, either as a challenge or in amusement I wasn’t quite sure.

I guess he took it as a challenge because the next thing I knew he had jumped at me to tackle me but I was too fast for him and I rolled us so I landed on top of him. My eyes were glowing red and I growled at him – _I was the Alpha_. Derek’s eyes seemed to glow even more intensely as he whined in submission and want. He rolled his head to the side, baring his neck for me. My wolf grumbled happily at the sight of him submitting to me, and I nosed along his throat, taking in his scent and leaving my scent on him. He moaned quietly and his hips rutted up into me.

“We’re never going to get in the shower if you keep teasing me, Derek. I’m just going to want to fuck you until neither of us can move, and I don’t know how much you want that,” I whispered in Derek’s ear, nipping at it lightly. Derek just moaned again in response. “Oh, you do want that? You want me to fuck you senseless?” I teased him, smirking at how easily I could get him like this.

“I don’t know, you did just jump me…” I told him, slowly getting up off of him. He whined again but didn’t move. “I don’t know if you deserve to get what you want, you don’t listen very well to your Alpha.”

“I’m sorry, you’re just so… and I lost control... I can listen better, I promise, please,” he begged, sitting up and staring at me with big, pleading eyes. “Stiles, please,” he whispered, and I could tell he was barely controlling himself.

I started taking off my clothes, slowly, teasing him some more. His eyes went back to blue and he growled again, but didn’t move from his spot on the floor. When I was finally naked, I turned and walked towards the showers.

Wolves weren’t shy about their bodies, at least not in front of pack. In front of kids in my school? The lacrosse team? Yeah, totally, but they all _looked_ strong and made fun of me for not looking like I was as physically in shape as the rest of them, even though I was definitely way stronger than all of them.

I knew I didn’t need to be shy around Derek though, he wanted me, even if I was scrawny and lanky and awkward as all hell. He liked me and I knew he really didn’t care if I didn’t look like any of the other kids. He thought I was beautiful.

When I got to the bathroom and turned on the shower, I turned around to look at Derek. He was still sitting in the spot where I had left him, breathing heavily and his eyes still glowing. They were the only parts of him that had moved – he had turned his head to stare at me, want written all over his face, but he was still using all of his self-control.

“Come here, let’s take a shower,” I told him, smiling encouragingly. Derek was over to me faster than I had ever seen anyone move, standing in front of me, but still not touching. I chuckled quietly, stepping towards him and placing my hand on his cheek. He leaned into the touch and practically purred. I nudged at his boxers until he pulled them off.

“Mmm, shower,” he mumbled, dragging me into the water.

“A little excited, are we?” I teased him, running my fingers along his collar bone and trailing them with kisses. I could hear his heart pounding in my ears – nerves and excitement. I smiled against his skin. I was nervous and excited, too, but my heart was calm, for more than one reason.

Firstly, I’m the Alpha – I was the one that was supposed to be calm when everyone else was freaking out. I was supposed to be the one that kept everyone together.

Secondly, part of me just knew this was… meant to be. That sounded really lame but it was the only way I could explain it.

I moved my lips to his nipple, flicking it with my tongue. Derek moaned. I began kissing further down his body, getting to his waist and looking up at him for permission.

“Stiles,” he moaned, and I took it as a yes.

I didn’t hesitate, I just took his entire cock down my throat and sucked my cheeks in.

“Fuck, Stiles,” Derek groaned, his head hitting the shower wall. I moaned, the look on his face was just so breathtaking and I couldn’t believe this was happening. I started moving my mouth up and down his cock causing him to moan some more. His hand reached down to rest on the back of my head, his fingers dragging along my scalp until he couldn’t control his claws anymore.

“God, Stiles, this is so – ah – good,” Derek encouraged me between moans. I looked up at him, waited until he looked at me and then swallowed around him.

“Fuck! Stiles, I’m gonna-” I swallowed around him again and he came almost immediately with a sound between a moan and a growl. I swallowed all of his cum greedily, watching him come undone. I licked him clean to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, and then got up to hold him steady. He looked like he was so blissed out that he was going to pass out.

“I’m sorry I teased you earlier,” I told him, kissing him quickly.

“Mmm, is that what that was, then? An apology? Because you are very much forgiven,” Derek grinned at me stupidly, his eyes back to their usual beautiful colours. He leaned down to kiss me lazily, humming in content.

“We should probably shower now,” I laughed.

* * *

As much as I would have loved to have just laid in bed all day, kissing Derek and tasting every inch of that ridiculous body, I couldn’t. I had to text Scott to tell him I wasn’t going to be in school all day (well, the rest of the day) and then ask him if he could come over after school because I had something to tell him and it was important. I knew he didn’t work tonight, so he had to say yes.

“Stiles,” Derek said, trying to interrupt my relentless pacing and break through my rambling.

“And what if he thinks I’m a freak or something and doesn’t believe the werewolf thing? Like I know the proof is pretty concrete-”

“Stiles.”

“-but sometimes Scott isn’t the smartest guy. I love him, dearly, he’s my brother, but sometimes… Oh fuck, what if he hates me? What if he never wants to speak-”

“Stiles!” Derek raised his voice slightly, but it still didn’t break me out of my doom spiral.

“-to me, I don’t think I can handle losing him. He was my only friend for so long, still is actually – you don’t count, I love you but like you’re different. Scott and me, we’re just-”

“STILES!” Derek roared at me, using his wolfy abilities to get my attention.

“DEREK!” I yelled back. Our eyes were flashing at each other in response to the roars. “Why the FUCK are you yelling at me like that?” I demanded, my wolf pissed that it’s Beta had the nerve.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes, you haven’t heard anything I’ve said. It was the only way to stop your ranting,” he explained, seemingly unfazed by my Alpha outburst. He bared his neck a little to appease my wolf, though, for which I was grateful.

“Oh, uh, sorry then,” I apologized, rubbing the back of my neck and then moving my hand to my hair to try and calm myself down a little more. It helped a little.

“Come here, Stiles,” Derek held out his arms for me. I threw myself into them, letting him move me until I was lying down with my head in his lap. He began moving his hands over my hair slowly and touching my face, tracing my features like he was trying to imprint them into his memory. Whatever he was doing, it calmed me down much more than I ever could.

“Derek, I can’t lose him,” I whispered, terrified of the very real possibility.

“Stiles, you won’t lose him. He’s your best friend. He might be a little pissed at you for keeping this from him, but once you explain everything to him I’m sure he’ll understand,” Derek comforted me. His confidence helped to relax me a bit as well. It was so nice to finally calm down – I felt like I had been worked up for years and I was finally able to unwind the stress, worry, anxiety, everything, that had been sitting in me.

“I hope you’re right, because he’ll be here very soon,” I informed him, looking at the clock. My heart started beating nervously again, but it wasn’t as frantic as before. “I think this is the calmest I’m going to get, but you’re helping,” I promised him. I didn’t want him to think he wasn’t having any affect on me.

We stayed like that for a few minutes, quietly taking comfort from each other and Derek petting me to help me relax. I heard Scott before Derek did, his heartbeat so familiar to me that I heard him as his bike turned onto my street.

“He’s here?” Derek asked me, probably hearing my heart speed up again and then hearing Scott’s heartbeat as he got closer. I nodded unnecessarily, sitting up and getting off the couch to go to the front door. Derek stayed sitting in the living room, keeping his heart beat relaxed, possibly controlling it so that I would have someone calm to focus on. I opened the door to see Scott standing there, his hand raised to knock.

“How many times do I have to tell you – you don’t have to knock, dude,” I told him, laughing.

“How the hell do you do that?” Scott asked me, walking into the house, taking off his shoes and dropping his backpack in one of the kitchen chairs.

“Do what?” I asked him, confused.

“Know when I’m at the door before I’ve knocked,” he clarified, before walking into the living room and seeing Derek.

Scott froze in the middle of the room, staring at Derek like he didn’t believe Derek was actually there.

“Well, Scott,” I cleared my throat, getting his attention. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Why is Derek here?” he asked, still seemingly bewildered.

“He’s going to help me explain everything,” I told him. “Sit down, Scotty,” I told him gently, leading him to couch. I backed up to stand in the middle of the room. I couldn’t sit down, I needed to move.

“Okay, what the fuck is going on Stiles?” Scott demanded, still looking confused.

“Scott, what I’m going to tell you is going to be a lot to take in, I know that. But I need you to do me a favour – please, let me say everything I need to say without interrupting me, and please give me the benefit of the doubt. Can you do that for me? Please?” I begged him.

“I-Yeah, okay, I can do that,” he agreed slowly, nodding.

“Okay, awesome, yeah, thank you, okay-”

“Stiles,” Derek interrupted my rambling. I turned to look at him, taking a deep breath. “Why don’t you start with the basics?” He suggested.

“Yeah, that’s easier,” I agreed. “Okay, Scott, I’m going to bluntly come out with this – werewolves are real,” I told him. He opened his mouth to argue with me, “Scott, you said you wouldn’t interrupt me,” I reminded him. He huffed, nodding before leaning back into the couch.

“Thank you, okay, I know I made a joke about it the other day, but I didn’t know how to tell you. But I can prove it, okay? And just don’t freak out, please,” I begged him.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and when I opened them, I had half shifted, eyes red and teeth elongated. I kept the shift for half a minute before forcing everything back to human. Scott hadn’t moved an inch, had barely breathed. His heart, though, was beating so fast that it was almost one continuous thump. I backed away slightly, hoping that his wolf instincts at least would recognize that I wasn’t a threat. It seemed to work, because his heart slowed down infinitesimally.

“Okay, I know it’s a lot to take in, but there is no way for me to ease you into it. But you need to know, I’ve left this for too long and now I’ve screwed everything up for you, and I’m so sorry,” I apologized, voice barely above a whisper.

“Scott, you were bitten by a werewolf, and now you’re becoming one,” Derek cut in. I think he knew I was struggling to get the words out. I glanced at him, trying to show my appreciation.

“I’m sorry, what?” Scott demanded. I hadn’t actually expected him to stay quiet for this long, so I wasn’t that upset. That was really all that I had needed to say before he had questions.

“We don’t know who the Alpha is that bit you, but we’re looking for him. But this means that you need help controlling yourself when the full moon comes this Friday. I know you might be pissed at me for keeping this from you, but please believe me when I tell you that I had a good reason,” I explained.

“Stiles, I’m not saying werewolves aren’t real – obviously they are,” he admitted, waving his hand toward me. “But, I’m not a werewolf, I can’t be,” he insisted.

“You’re going to have to show him,” Derek told me before I had time to argue with Scott. I looked at him, raising an eyebrow. Show him? How the hell do I do that? “An Alpha can force a Beta to shift, you have to howl at him,” he explained.

“Okay,” I nodded, I could do that. “Der, can you go get the mirror from my room?” I asked him. He nodded and quickly ran upstairs, brushing his fingers along my jaw as he went by. The touch calmed me slightly.

“So, what? Are you and him, like, dating?” Scott asked me, smirking.

“That’s… well, yeah, but it’s more complicated than that. He’s pack though,” I tried to explain. “Derek, stop stalling so Scott and I can talk about you without you in the room,” I said quietly. I knew Scott could hear me, but I wanted to show Scott some of the abilities.

“I was just trying to give you guys some space,” Derek laughed, still upstairs. Scott’s eyes widened when he not only heard Derek from upstairs, but also when he realized that Derek had heard me. Derek came down with the mirror.

“Well, thank you, Sourwolf,” I smirked at him. He grumbled at me in his chest, just causing me to smile even wider. “Can you hold it in front of Scott?” I asked him, still smirking slightly.

“Yeah, yeah,” he grouched at me, still pretending to be grumpy about my nickname for him.

“Okay, Scott, you’re gonna have to stand in front of me and look at me. I only half shifted before, but this time I’m going to have to full shift, which might freak you out a bit more, but I promise _I will not hurt you_ ,” I assured him. He swallowed heavily and nodded, standing in front of me. His body was tense, but he wasn’t running. I took that as a win.

I started the shift, running one of my hands over my hair to keep myself in control. I opened my eyes, knowing they were glowing red again, and I looked at Scott. He looked freaked out again, but no more than he had before.

“Is this going to cause you to shift, too?” I asked Derek. He shrugged.

“Probably not, you won’t be directing it at me, but I have pretty good control over it so, if I do shift, it won’t affect anything else,” he told me. I sighed, a little relieved. I was glad he was here, I knew he would help me if I screwed up or something.

“Alright, let’s do this,” I said, voice more confident than I felt.

I took a deep breath – and howled.

It was the loudest I had ever howled, and there was an obvious command in it. I watched as Scott seemed to fight something before he whined, closed his eyes, and put his hands on the sides of his head. It was like he was trying to keep himself from falling apart. And then he looked up at me.

His eyes were glowing gold, and he had fully shifted. Before I could say anything, Derek had shoved the mirror in front of Scott so that he could see that he really was a werewolf, that I wasn’t lying.

At first, he didn’t say or do anything. He just stared at himself. Then he moved his hands up to feel his face, as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing, he needed to make sure the proof was concrete, real.

Then he started freaking out.

“What the fuck man? Why isn’t this stopping? What the _fuck_?” He was yelling, his voice a half-growl which only seemed to agitate him even more. “Stiles, man, how do I make this stop? What do I do?” He was staring at me, eyes wide with fear and his chest heaving with heavy, panicked breaths.

“Okay, Scott, it’s alright,” I told him calmly, shifting back to human again. Derek had since moved the mirror away to help Scott calm down. “Okay, listen to me, okay? Focus on me. Good, okay, breathe with me, okay. Think of something that makes you happy, tell me about what you’re thinking about,” I told him. This was how my mom taught me.

“Uhm, uh, I don’t know, Stiles, I don’t know!” Scott yelled at me, starting to panic again.

“Okay, Scott, what about… Allison?” I asked him, listening to his heart rate. I knew he had only met her yesterday, but she was a good distraction, and he seemed to really like her. I was right, I heard his heart stutter, but it slowed a bit.

“What-what about her?” Scott asked, hopefully grabbing onto the slight calm that I thought was spreading through him.

“You saw her last night, right? You texted me about it? What happened last night?” I pushed a little. We were both kneeling in the middle of the room now, Derek still standing off to the side, watching and trying to make himself as unnoticeable as possible.

“Well, uh, she came by Deaton’s while I was closing up. She was crying and freaking out. She had hit a dog and brought it right to the clinic to get help,” he recounted. I could hear his heart beat already slowing down. He just needed to get a little distracted by the thought of Allison, forget about the shift, and he would be fine.

“Okay, cool, so, you helped her?” I asked gently.

“Yeah, yeah, I gave the dog a splint, I’ve watched Deaton do it before, so I knew how. She was really cold, it was raining out, so I let her borrow my extra shirt from my bag. I wiped an eyelash off her cheek, and then I asked her if she wanted to go to that party on Friday, and she said yes.” By the time he finished explaining the night to me, he had shifted back to normal and was breathing normally. His heart was beating fast, but it was different, it was about Allison, not panic.

“So you have a date, that’s awesome,” I replied, smiling widely at him and pulling him up from the ground. I sat us on the couch and patted the seat on the other side of me for Derek.

“You have a date Friday?” Derek asked.

“I think we’ve established that Derek,” I teased him, not sure why he was asking that when I was pretty sure we had said that twice now.

“No, _this Friday_?” He urged, giving me a look that I was obviously supposed to –

“Fuck,” I blurted, finally understanding what Derek was saying.

“What? What’s wrong with that?” Scott asked.

“You can’t go on that date Scott,” I told him, firmly. I hoped there was enough Alpha command in my voice that he would listen. But then again, we hadn’t talked about if Scott even _wanted_ to be in my pack, so his wolf might not recognize my authority, or whatever.

“Why the fuck not?” Scott demanded, his temper flaring up. I had to stamp down the urge to growl at him in warning. He wasn’t in control, I had to keep telling myself.

“You don’t have enough control,” Derek told him, almost as if he was reading my thoughts.

“Fuck you, you don’t know me, you don’t get to make these decisions for me,” Scott snarled at Derek, his eyes flashing gold for a moment.

The growl that tore up and out of my throat was completely unintentional, and I had never heard that sound come out of me, _ever_. Derek put his hand on the back of my neck, calming me slightly. I took a deep breath and levelled Scott with a look that I could see slightly worried him. Good.

“Scott, Derek is right, you won’t have enough control, you could hurt people. You could hurt Allison. In fact, you most likely would, because your instincts would probably focus on her,” I told him. He looked like he wanted to argue, but I needed him to realize this was serious.

“Scott, there’s something else you need to know about this situation…” I trailed off, really, _really_ not wanting to have this conversation. I hadn’t even warned Derek about this part. I didn’t know how he would react to this news.

“What?” He asked me in a hard voice. I didn’t like this, I didn’t like how angry he was right now.

“Allison is awesome, that is a fact, she seems great from what you’ve told us. But… Scott Allison Argent-” I felt Derek flinch and tense up beside me “-is from a family of werewolf hunters. Now, before you say anything,” I rushed on, not wanting Scott to yell at me. “I’m not saying that she’s one, too, or that it’s her fault or anything. But Scott, her family has done terrible things,” I told him.

“Werewolf hunters? Are you fucking kidding me? That is not something that’s actually real,” he scoffed at me.

Derek knew what was happening before I did, reacted first, too.

“Scott, you need to move, go to the other side of the room, don’t make any sudden movements or any noise. Go!” Derek yelled at Scott before moving to face me.

“Stiles,” he said calmly. I looked at him, not understanding why he was speaking to me like he was afraid I was going to fall apart.

That was until I noticed the growing sense of rage and anger, I heard the growl rising in my throat, I felt the shift coming over me, I saw red. My wolf was pissed – I mean, so was human Stiles, but my wolf was _mad_. And it was taking control.

“Don’t-don’t ever-you don’t understand-fucking hunters- **YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT HUNTERS HAVE TAKEN FROM PEOPLE LIKE ME, SCOTT!** ” I shouted at him, trying to lunge forward at him but finding myself trapped. I looked down to see Derek holding me, but he was struggling. I didn’t care, I was too far gone.

“What the hell, Stiles, the Argent’s just got here, what could they have done to you?” Scott asked, bewildered.

I heard Derek growl lowly, but that was the only indication that he gave that he was upset in any way. I guess he was putting all of his focus on making sure I didn’t tear Scott apart.

“I don’t just mean the Argent’s! They aren’t the only fucking hunters, Scott! And-and they took-they take people from you! They took my mom, my Alpha! The Argent’s, Allison’s crazy fucking Aunt killed Derek’s _entire_ fucking family! That fire I told you about? Yeah, that was Kate!” I was screaming now, half-growl, half-sobbing at this point. I was still struggling to get out of Derek’s hold, but I was getting so worked up that I was almost collapsing on Derek, grabbing at him for support.

“What-what are you-your mom? But she died of a weird food poisoning thing,” Scott questioned blankly.

“They t-took her… They ki-killed her and she d-died protecting me… They took her… And I was left, an Alpha of nothing… Don’t take everything so lightly, Scott, it’s bigger and more serious than you could even imagine,” I whispered. I had collapsed against Derek, tired myself out to the point that my wolf had just given into the grief.

“Stiles, it’s okay,” Derek whispered in my ear, his hand on the back of my neck again. I whimpered against his throat before taking a deep breath to steady myself.

“I’m okay, I’m sorry, I’m supposed to have better control of myself than that. I think it’s just everything that’s happened in the past couple days has been a lot for me to take in and my wolf has been a little on edge, I’m so sorry. I’m supposed to be your Alpha, I’m supposed to be the one that calms you down,” I apologized to Derek, wincing at the completely ruined shirt that he was now wearing.

“Stiles, it’s fine, I understand,” he told me softly.

“Stiles, I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I didn’t know,” Scott whispered, his eyes wide and I could see that they were filled with tears. “I wish I had known, I could have helped. You’ve had to go through all this on your own?” He asked sadly. I nodded.

Scott walked toward me and Derek moved behind me, still keeping a hand on my hip. I closed my eyes, waiting for him to hit me for lying to him, trying to kill him, completely ruining his life. And then I nearly sobbed when he pulled me into a hug, squeezing me as tightly as he could. And finally, _finally_ , I could squeeze back without the possibility of me breaking his ribs.

“I’ll cancel the date with Allison, and you and Derek can help me learn everything about being a werewolf. I don’t want you to have to go through this alone anymore,” he assured me.

“Does this mean… do you want to be in my pack then? I mean, you don’t have to be, your Alpha is the one that bit you, unless you want to be in my pack, and I would have you, no doubt,” I rambled until I finally just forced my mouth closed.

“Of course I want to be in your pack,” he told me, pulling back to smile at me. I smiled back, relieved.

“Thank you for not hating me, Scotty,” I whispered to him. He just smiled wider at me.

“Come here, Derek,” Scott said suddenly, holding out an arm to let Derek into the hug. “You’re in love with my best friend, we’re pack now, I guess. I’m assuming we’re going to have to get to know each other,” he joked.

Derek laughed, but I could smell how elated he was at the thought of a pack again. It may have been tiny, a little sad and broken, but it was still pack. And we weren’t alone any more.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I know I said I wouldn't be posting anything until after exams, but I'm obviously a terrible student.
> 
> No, I'm actually not, but I just finished an 8 page paper last week and I wanted to give myself a break between assignments and deadlines and whatever so I spent the weekend writing this whenever I wasn't doing schoolwork.
> 
> I just really wanted to post something this month, and then after my exams, I promise I will definitely get more of this written. It's already longer than I meant for it to be but, apparently I can't keep these short.
> 
> Let me know what you think of it! I know a lot of this was kinda just filler but I needed to put the Scott stuff in here. And I know Stiles was kind of emotionally all over the place but he has had an emotional few days so I feel like he's just overwhelmed. He'll get better.
> 
> Anyways, yeah, thank you for reading! Sorry that there will be another month before I post again!
> 
> PS. Also! Smut! This is my first time writing slash, so please let me know if it's okay?? I read a lot of Sterek fics but I'm always nervous writing smut!


	4. Lessons Learned

"Okay, do you have any questions?" I asked Scott after we had all sat down in the kitchen.

"For either of us," Derek added. "We're pack, we need to learn more about each other, learn how to trust each other."

"Uhm, okay, well… what does being a werewolf mean for me? Like how does it change me and stuff?" Scott asked, eyeing me and Derek curiously.

"Well, it's actually kinda cool, like hearing is way better, you can see more clearly, move faster. You're way stronger now than you used to be, more agile, that kinda stuff – it's why you're suddenly way better at lacrosse," I told him excitedly.

"You can also use chemo-signals to know how people are feeling, and listen to someone's heartbeat to hear if they're lying," Derek added.

"Wait, really? That's so cool! Is that how you always knew when I was here before I knocked and stuff?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, Scotty, it's also how I always know if you're lying, how you're feeling, and why I always had to be gentle with you," I laughed, winking at him.

"Wait, you were  _gentle_  with me? What the hell man, you can't be that much stronger than me," he scoffed.

"Dude, I could easily break your ribs just hugging you, and unlike me, you couldn't heal yourself right away. It would have-"

"Wait, wait, wait, you can _heal yourself_? Like break a bone and it'll heal right away?" He interrupted. He was looking at me in amazement.

"Oh, yeah! See watch!" I grabbed a knife and cut open my hand. The cut wasn't deep, but a little blood gathered around the cut before the skin healed itself again. I rinsed my hand off and you couldn't even tell that there had been any wound.

"That's so cool," Scott whispered.

"How do you think I haven't broken anything, especially with how clumsy I am," I nudged him.

"Wait, how are you clumsy? You're a werewolf – an  _Alpha_ ," Derek asked me. "You're supposed to have superior reflexes," he mocked me, smirking.

"Hey, I may be clumsy, but I definitely have superior reflexes. I could easily kick your ass," I told him, smirking and flashing my eyes at him.

Scott looked between Derek and I, sizing us up. He laughed, obviously disagreeing with me, and Derek's smirk told me he agreed with Scott. A challenge.

"Okay, Sourwolf, let's test your theory. I'll kick your ass," I challenged him right back.

"Fine, but one rule. You can't use any Alpha 'stand down' commands."

"Fine, easy. Let's go," I told him, getting up from my chair and going to the back door. I turned around when he hadn't followed. "What, scared?" I teased him.

He raised an eyebrow at me, making me huff a laugh, before getting up and following me. Scott was right behind him, looking far too excited about this.

I could smell the confidence radiating off of Derek, and I had to admit, it was  _super_  hot. But I pushed those thoughts aside, focusing on the fight. I knew I was stronger than Derek, I had the extra Alpha strength, and I was small, but I was fast. I trained every night, gaining muscle, learning better fighting techniques, running for stamina. I wanted to be ready for anything.

Derek obviously worked out, he was broad and had  _amazing_  muscle definition. But I was deceptively small, he was underestimating me.

I smirked, pulling my shirt off – I didn't want it to get torn up. Derek pulled his off, too.

"Alright," I said, shifting fully, Derek doing the same. "Let's go, Sourwolf," I said, my voice coming out in a growl. He cracked his neck and snapped his jaws at me.

Then he ran at me, all snarling fangs and claws. I waited until he was almost on top of me and then I danced out of the way, watching him grab at the air. I kicked the back of his knee, watching him hit the ground. Derek was on his feet in an instant, a growl rising in his throat.

I was laughing, I hadn't had a fight like this in years, maybe never. I was always taught to control myself, and we trained but it was more about defending myself but also learning my strengths, so I didn't accidentally kill someone. I was training to defend myself until help came.

This was what it felt like to fight with a pack. It felt good.

I ran at Derek, a growl ripping its way out of my throat. I jumped over him, swiping at his back. Derek hissed and whipped around to face me again, but I was already kicking him in the chest. He stumbled back and then hit the ground.

I was on top of him, holding him down. I smirked down at him, "You can back down now if you want, I won't think badly of you for it," I teased. He just growled and kicked me off of him. I hadn't thought he would give in that easily, I was just riling him up.

"Okay, fine, now I'm actually going to put an effort in," I told him. The smirk fell off my face and was replaced with a fierce look of determination.

I waited there until Derek ran at me again. This time he leapt at me. I leapt at him, too, and leapt higher. I was above him, a kick to the back had him slamming to the ground. I heard him grunt and saw him roll over. I walked over to him, looking down.

"You done? Because I really don't want to break something, but I will if I have to," I warned him, and I knew he could hear how serious I was.

"All right, fine, you can kick my ass – for now," he conceded, sounding grumpy. I reached down, grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him to his feet, pulling his face so it was only inches from mine and all he could see were my Alpha eyes.

"For now? Oh, more like forever, I'm the A-"

"HOLY SHIT," Scott exclaimed, interrupting my 'I'm the Alpha' speech. "Stiles, that was… fucking incredible. How the hell did you – Please, teach me how to fight," he was staring at me in awe. It was a little nice, but it was mostly weird.

"Well, obviously, we're going to have to train. There's a threat, we'll have to try and stop the Alpha that bit you and killed people. Also," I added, "hunters are always a possible threat." I winced when I saw the look of pain cross Scott's face.

"Okay, I need-"

"Now that you two are done fighting and Stiles is done proving his Alpha power, come inside. I have-"

"Chinese!" I yelled, running back to the house. Dad had barely gotten out of the doorway by the time I had run past him. "Scotty, you better hurry up before I eat all the eggrolls!"

"Wait, no fair!" I heard Scott scrambling, and he must have run into Derek at some point because I heard an 'oof, sorry, no I said I was sorr-' and then Scott hitting the ground before jumping back up and running into the kitchen behind me.

"Your boyfriend is kinda mean," Scott whined, before grabbing a handful of the eggrolls. Dad always got what most would assume was way too much food but, hello. Werewolf teenager. I ate a lot. There was even more than usual here because we were feeding two more werewolves.

"I'm not mean,  _you_  need to watch where you're going," Derek explained, walking into the kitchen with my dad. Dad chuckled. I tried, and failed, to hide my elation at Derek being referred to as my boyfriend, and Derek not arguing.

"So, I guess Scott knows now," Dad said. It wasn't a question, he could tell. The question was how much we had told him. "I guess you boys decided to give Stiles' ego a boost as well?"

"Okay, dad, before you lecture me about fighting, Derek and Scott started it!" I pointed at them accusingly. I took a too-big bite of my food.

"Dude, that's gross," Derek and Scott complained at the same time.

"How did they start it? I saw you and Derek fighting. Well, I saw you fighting, and I saw Derek getting his ass handed to him, if I'm being honest," Dad joked, high-fiving me when I laughed.

"Well, I know I won, but Derek and Scotty doubted how strong I am, and as their Alpha I can't allow that," I told dad, chuckling at the offended look on Derek's face when he was told that he had his ass handed to him by a teenager.

"I could have _let_  you win, maybe, you don't know," Derek said, sounding sulky. I growled low, my eyes flashing. "Okay, okay, fine, you kicked my ass," he amended, hands raising in surrender.

All in all, we had a good night. We all watched movies, dad went to bed early because he had work in the morning again – reminding me that I had to go to school the next day, and Scott went home a little later than usual, occasionally asking Derek and I about being a wolf and stuff. It was probably one of the best nights I'd had in a while.

* * *

When Derek and I were laying in bed that night, I realized something.

"We're gonna have to call the police to turn your sister's body over to them tomorrow."

"I know," Derek sighed, nuzzling into my body a little more. I squeezed him tighter for a few seconds. "And then I'll have to seem surprised and devastated when your dad calls me in to notify me and ID her."

"Yeah, you will," I agreed. "I can go to the station with you – if you want," I offered.

"I would really appreciate that, it would be a lot easier with you there," he told me. I was glad I could help him, even if it was in really little, seemingly inconvenient ways.

I didn't say anything to respond to him, just kissed his forehead. We didn't always need to say anything to each other, which was nice. Then I realized something else and groaned unhappily.

"What? What's wrong?" Derek asked, sounding concerned.

"Nothing, I'm fine, I just realized something else. I'm going to have to explain all of this to Scott tomorrow, when you aren't around, and he's going to be  _super_  obnoxious about it," I complained, curling into Derek for once. He rubbed my back comfortingly, chuckling quietly.

"Well, I'm sure it won't be that bad. It'll be easier than the day you just had, that's for sure," he reassured me. I laughed at that, he was very right. I moved my head to kiss him, grateful that I had him, grateful for the stability he brought me. I already felt more in control of things with him around – he was the anchor that I had been lacking.

We lay like that for a while, neither of us able to fall asleep but still just comfortable to lay with each other.

After about half an hour, Derek cleared his throat and I heard his heart speed up slightly, but he was trying to control it. "Uh, so, do you do the thing where you ramble when you're nervous a lot?" He asked me, sounding like he was working himself up to something.

"Yeah, why?" His heart picked up, but again, not much. He was nervous, which was adorable, honestly.

"Uhm, well, how often do you not remember what you said?"

"Oh god, what did I say? Was it today? Or yesterday? Because I have done a  _lot_  of nervous rambling the last two days," I whined.

"Okay, well, first off, it doesn't bother me. So don't panic or anything. But, I just need to know if you really meant the things you said because if you didn't that's okay, but yeah, okay," he stopped talking, taking a deep breath. "So yesterday, before we established all of  _this_ ," he waved a hand between us. Eloquent as hell. "You said you wanted me, and I wasn't sure exactly how you meant that, but now I have more of an indication, but I would like more elaboration on that because this is obviously relatively new and I need to know," he finished, a little out of breath.

"Well, I want you in every possible way that I can want you, I think. I want you to be around, I want you to talk to me about all your problems, and I want to hear you get excited about weird little things, I want to kiss you whenever I see your face, I want to be able to argue with you over stupid things and then get over it," I ranted all in one breath.

"Okay, so we're like dat-"

"I also want you many times, in many, many positions, as often as possible," I interjected. I felt Derek stiffen beside me. "I mean, if that's what-" I was interrupted by lips smashing against mine. It took me a moment to recover from the shock before I was relaxing into the feeling of Derek's body on mine, the taste of him in my mouth, the smell of him surrounding me.

When he pulled away, we were panting, and I could feel him straining against his pajamas, grinding subtly against the bulge in my underwear. He leaned in for more, but I stopped him.

Fuck my self-restraint.

He whined, pouting at me and sucking one of my fingers into his mouth. I couldn't help the moan that left my mouth, flashing my eyes at him in warning.

"Der, we can't, not with my dad in the next room," I told him. He sighed, but nodded in agreement. "But  _believe me_ , I really,  _really_  want to," I assured him, pulling him against my side again. He sighed tiredly, nuzzling his face against my shoulder. I could feel his stubble scratching my skin – it felt really good, comforting.

"You told me you loved me," he whispered. I could hear that he was half asleep, didn't really realize what he was saying.

"Did I? When?" I spoke quietly so as not to wake him up further, steadying my heart beat.

"When you were worried about Scott not wanting to be your friend anymore when he found out you're a werewolf. I didn't want to say anything in case you freaked out more," he told me, his voice slightly muffled as he pushed his face against my neck.

"Oh, okay. Well, I do love you. I love you very much, Derek Hale," I confessed. I felt him smile against my throat, a happy grumble coming from him.

"I love you too, Mischief Stilinski."

* * *

I left my bed the next morning, to the distress of Derek whom I had, unsuccessfully, tried not to wake.

"I have to go to school, I missed yesterday, I can't miss too much," I explained to him as he whined. Like, literally, just made high-pitched whining noises at me like a dog.

"But I don't  _want_  you to go," he complained at me again. He was like a petulant child in the morning.

I turned and gave him a stern look, pulling my pants on at the same time. This was another thing he was complaining about, thinking I should just be naked all the time I guess. He obviously wasn't awake enough to see the very obvious flaw.

"Derek, if I don't put clothes on, how many other people are going to see me naked – what if other people want me?" I pointed out to him.

He was over to me in a second, pulling my shirt my head, and throwing his leather jacket around me.

"Mine." His eyes were blue and there was a continuous growl coming from him. He now saw the flaw and decided the only solution was to, essentially, drown me in his scent. I wasn't complaining about getting to smell Derek on me all day.

"Yes baby, all yours, I know," I reassured him. He grumbled happily when I pulled his jacket a little tighter against me, inhaling his scent. I grabbed him a pair of pants and a shirt that would fit him, because I was just as jealous as him and wanted my scent all over him. "And you're mine," I told him, nipping lightly at the skin behind his ear.

He whimpered, baring the long column of his throat to me. It was such a tempting invitation, but I couldn't miss school again. Especially not with the full moon so close, I really needed to keep an eye on Scott. I kissed his throat once before moving away, towards my door.

"St _i_ les…" Derek complained again, pouting. Lip-sticking-out pouting. Lord have mercy, he was adorable and nearly impossible to say no to. Nearly.

"Sweetheart, I promise, I will be back after school. And I can text you all day whenever I have time. And then you'll see me after school at the station," I assured him, smiling at him softly. I knew he was just barely awake, plus the fact that he had just lost his sister, and that his whole life had been upended, all culminated into one thing: he was a little clingy and needy. And I fully understood.

"Derek, I love you," I told him, knowing that would help things much more than trying to reason with him. He just needed to know he was loved and cared for, that I wasn't abandoning him, and I was definitely coming back to him. "You're my mate and my Beta and I promise you, I am coming back."

He seemed to calm down at this, smelled less like anxiety than before. He sighed, falling back onto the bed. I walked over and tucked him back in, giving him my pillow to wrap his arms around and shove his face into. He fell asleep fairly quickly.

I left the house as silently as possible, which was actually pretty quiet. I didn't like leaving him, because I was his Alpha and that part of me just kept thinking that I couldn't protect him if I wasn't with him, and because he was my mate and I just felt much better when I was with him.

I started the Jeep and drove to the school, trying to appease myself by remembering that going to school was the priority because I needed to keep an eye on Scott, the full moon was in two days. He would be feeling the effects fairly soon, if he wasn't already.

My education was also pretty important, too. I guess.

"Stiles!" I heard Scott yell from the front doors as I pulled into the parking lot. I smiled at his enthusiasm – my puppy analogy for him was even more fitting now.

"Hi, Scotty, stay there," I told him as I parked, loud enough that I knew he would hear me.

When I got to him, I was expecting the bombardment of questions, but it was still a lot to take in.

"Okay, so tell me everything about Derek please, because you've never spoken about him before, and I really need to know what's happening," Scott demanded, all in one breath. It was impressive.

"Well, do you remember what I told you the other day about his family all dying in a fire? That was true, only his sister, Laura, and Uncle Peter survived. Peter has been in a coma, almost his entire body covered in severe burns. He probably won't ever wake up, the only reason he's still alive is because he's got super-healing. And Laura was the body out in the woods," I told Scott quietly so that no one else heard.

"Wait, his sister was the body we went to look for? Did you know?"

"No, I didn't know, I didn't even know that they had come back from New York until we saw him in the woods," I admitted. We had reached our lockers, grabbing our books and then heading to our first class. We sat in the back so that we would have a little more privacy. Not that we needed much because we could speak pretty quietly to each other now.

"Okay. So, how do you know Derek?" He asked me. I could tell this was what he really wanted to know most of all.

I dropped my voice a little more before I answered because some people were coming into the room. "Well, so his mother, Talia, was an Alpha, and so was my mom. Usually Alphas don't get along, but our moms were friends before they became Alphas, so they worked together to protect Beacon Hills. They would spend time at each other's houses a lot, and my mom would bring me to Talia's and Talia would bring Derek and his sisters to my place, especially when they were younger," I explained.

"But you guys just started dating right? Like you haven't been secretly dating him for years. Right?" He asked me, sounding worried.

"Yes, Scotty, we just started… I guess dating is a good enough term for it, but it is a little bigger than that."

"What, are you like engaged or something?" He joked, laughing a little. Until he saw the serious 'well, kinda' look on my face. "You're engaged?" He choked out, a little louder than I liked.

I shushed him, "I mean, kinda, yeah, but it's more complicated than that. I'll explain after this class," I told him. I knew Allison was about to come in the room, I could hear her talking to Lydia outside in the hallway. Scott wouldn't be able to keep his attention on me with her in the room.

Allison walked in as Scott was about to say something to me, possibly demand I explain now, and then he was turning to stare at her, his heart beating rapidly and his body throwing off a lot of ' _mine_ ' hormones. I sighed, resigned to the fact that my best friend was now completely fucked by his feelings for this girl.

She smiled at Scott and I, but I could smell the sadness in the air around her, it was salty and a little bitter. She was upset about Scott having to cancel on her, which I felt really terrible about. Maybe I would talk to her later, make up an excuse to help her and Scott. Not that I thought it would last in the long run – if she didn't know about her family yet, she would eventually, probably sooner rather than later. But who knows, maybe it could work between them.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I debated not checking it until the class was done. But I knew it was Derek, and I could sneak my phone out in this class.

**Did you get to school?**

I snorted quietly, he was so cute. Worrying about if I made it to school safely.

**Yes Big Guy, I got here in time to talk to Scott a little before class. I still have to explain our relationship a little bit to him, but he thinks we're engaged – which we pretty much are, if I'm not mistaken?**

I sent that text, concerned that I was making assumptions about our relationship, it's not like we had had this conversation yet, nor had we really had enough time to figure anything out yet. I had to wait a few minutes for his answering text, and each minute that passed made me feel more anxious.

Finally, he answered.  **I guess that would be the human equivalent, but there really is no comparison to anything human's feel. There is so much more involved, especially after we've become… intimate.**

I had to force myself to control my reactions to the images of Derek and I being intimate. I took a few deep breaths, only noticeable to me.

**What else will happen? I thought this was just a really committed relationship.**

I began taking notes when the teacher finally started teaching the lesson, and I didn't have time to answer the text Derek sent me until class was almost over, when the teacher started answering any questions about the lessons. I had understood everything easily, so I discreetly took my phone out.

**Well, it all depends on the relationship. Once the relationship has been 'consummated' we** **'** **ll** **both** **get some mark on our bodies to signify the relationship. And then there will be some other added perk, I guess is the best way to phrase it. Like we'll each be able to feel what the other person is feeling, or we'll be able to communicate telepathically, whenever we want, though that one is very rare. It's never known what the mating pair will experience until it's happened.**

I blinked a few times, taking everything in. I would have a mating mark, and some kind mate experience once Derek and I fucked. Holy shit, I didn't know that would happen.

The bell rang, bringing me out of my reverie. Scott turned to look at me meaningfully. I guess we were getting right back into it. We started walking to chemistry.

"You're  _engaged_?" Scott whispered incredulously.

"Okay, not technically, but it is really serious. Real wolves mate for life, and werewolves sometimes do, too. Not always. But Derek and I are mates, this is it for us. Eventually we'll both have Mate Markings and have an ability or something, we're not sure what either will be though."

Scott looked mollified by that, but still a little put out. "Okay, that sounds a little better. So, how long has this been happening?" He asked me as we headed into Harris' class, again sitting in the back. This was our usual now, anything to get me as far from Harris as possible. I don't know why he hated me on such an intense level, but let me tell you. It was definitely mutual.

"Only a couple days, I promise. I didn't know until the night after we saw him in the forest," I promised him. He then looked much calmer. "I'll explain everything that's happened at lunch, I swear."

I reached for my phone to answer Derek finally.

**Okay, well, this is news to me, but that sounds pretty awesome! I can't wait to find out what they are…**

I sent that as a text, hoping to tease him a little, wondering what reaction I would get. Then I thought about it and sent another text.

**Oh, btw, my chem teacher is a total dick so I won't be able to check my phone at all during this class. It'll take every ounce of self-control to not get detention. Love you, text you at lunch!**

I put my phone back in my pocket and prepared to be bored out of my mind for the next hour.

It took everything I had not to think about Derek and his chest and legs and arms and his face. At least to not make it seem like I was thinking about it. I must have succeeded relatively well because Harris didn't yell at me or give me detention, which I was extremely happy about.

I went to my locker to put my books away, while Scott went to Coach's office to see him about first line stuff. I saw Allison across the hall at her locker, alone. I wanted to talk to her without Scott nearby, so that she didn't think he was putting me up to this. I shoved everything in my locker quickly and walked over to her.

"Hey Allison, I'm Stiles," I smiled at her. She returned the smile, and holy shit  _those dimples_. I could see why Scott liked her so much, she was gorgeous.

"Yeah, you're Scott's best friend, right?" She asked me.

"Yeah, I am. Actually I wanted to talk to you about him, if you could keep this between us?" I asked her and then kept going before she could answer. "I wanted to apologize for him having to cancel on you this Friday. I don't know if he told you but it's kinda my fault," I told her, making sure my voice was apologetic. Which, I mean, I was so it wasn't that difficult.

"No, he just told me he wouldn't be able to make it to the party," she told me.

"Okay, well, I really need him this week. One of my really close family friends is missing, and her brother is staying with me and my dad while we look for her. Scott said he would come over this weekend to help us all and just be there for us. It's probably kinda lame and I feel really bad to take him away from you, I just really need my best friend and Derek really needs me…" I trailed off. She was smiling very softly at me, and I didn't know what to say anymore. The smile caught me a little off guard, I hadn't been expecting it.

"Oh, Stiles that's completely understandable. Thank you for letting me know, especially now that it's obvious Scott wasn't blowing me off or anything," she told me, relieved.

"Oh god no, he really,  _really_  wants to go on a date with you. Just, don't tell him I said anything to you? If you do decide to go out with him again, I don't want either of you to feel pressured by me or anything," I explained.

She wrapped her arm around mine, beginning to lead us to the cafeteria. "Of course, it's our secret," she winked, smiling widely at me. I could smell that she was genuinely happy now, no more salty smell of sadness.

We walked into the cafeteria and I saw Scott sitting at our usual table, staring at us, wide-eyed. There were so many scents rolling off of him – worry, sadness, jealousy, confusion, and some others that I didn't want to really acknowledge. I saw Lydia sitting at another table with – ugh – Jackson with a bunch of his cronies, and Danny. I thought Allison would let go of my arm to go sit with Lydia, but she dragged me over to mine and Scott's table, letting go of my arm to slide into the seat beside Scott.

"Hi Scott," she greeted him, flashing the dimples at him. I had to hide my laugh at his heart stopping briefly and then picking up in triple-time. His mouth went slack for a minute, giving him a dopey look, again reminding me of a puppy.

"Uh, h-hey," he stammered, a blush creeping up his neck into his cheeks.

"I was wondering if we could reschedule our date to sometime next weekend, if you still wanted to do something? We could go to a movie or something," she suggested.

"Say yes," I whispered almost inaudibly, so that only Scott could hear.

He nodded, face lighting up immediately. "Yeah, that would be awesome! I'll text you tonight about it?" He asked her.

And weren't they just the most adorable couple ever? All wide smiles, smelling like peaches and magnolias. I used to think it was funny that Scott gave off the slightest scent of peaches, because not many men smelled like fruit, it was usually the stereotypical nature smells, or they just drowned themselves in so much cologne that I couldn't get anything else. But Allison and Scott just  _smelled_  like they belonged.

I looked down at my phone to give them some privacy – I hadn't checked my texts and I knew Derek had texted me a couple times.

**Stiles, don't tease me when you aren't here, it's not fair.**

**Shit, now I can't stop thinking about your body pressed against mine and your teeth dragging down my throat and your beautiful fingers on me…**

I had to look up to steady my breath. This man was going to kill me. The last text was sent ten minutes after the first two.

**Do you want me to rip your teacher's throat out with my teeth? Also do you have any other pants that will fit me?**

I choked down the growl that tried to rip its way up my throat and clenched my eyes shut because I could feel that they were glowing. I forced my breathing to slow down for a while before I relaxed again. Like I said, he was going to be the absolute death of me.

* * *

By the time lunch was done I had finished telling Scott everything that had happened over the past few days and he was floored. I understood, being thrown into this world with absolutely no knowledge of it was probably completely insane and I was actually surprised at how well he was taking it. I thought he would have been running at this point honestly.

"So after lacrosse tonight, Derek is going to move his sister's body, anonymously call it into the police and then go in to identify her?" Scott clarified.

"Yes, my dad and I both agreed that's the best plan. Then my dad will have to briefly 'question him' about his sister's disappearance, but it will just clear him of being a suspect. I'm going to go with him, to anchor him and support him and stuff. It also makes you look less guilty if you have someone there with you," I informed him.

"I'm sure it doesn't hurt that you're the Sheriff's son," Scott chuckled.

"No, it probably doesn't," I laughed with him. It really was awesome to be able to tell Scott about these things, to be able to talk to someone who understood it, or at least eventually would.

Nothing really happened until lacrosse practice. We were on the field, and I was actually doing pretty well. I wasn't using my full wolf abilities but I stepped it up a little so that I wouldn't be left on the bench without Scott. That was when I smelled him.

 _Derek_.

I looked over to the stands and he was walking up to them, going to sit by himself. Derek had come to watch me practice. And that was when my brain shut down for half a second and I tripped over my feet and face planted in the grass.

I heard Jackson snickering, Scott was at my side helping me up, but Derek's heartbeat was loud in my ears. It was beating slightly faster than usual, panic souring his scent.

"I'm okay Der, promise, just uncoordinated sometimes," I said under my breath. I turned to see him hiding his smile behind his hand. "Thanks Scotty," I smiled at him, patting his shoulder. I had to force myself to ignore Derek until practice was done so that I could actually get onto first line.

* * *

_Derek's POV_

* * *

I felt my shoulders relax when Stiles assured me he was fine. I should probably have made sure he was alright with me showing up to practice but I had been away from him all day. I didn't want to be clingy or anything but he just made me feel better and I didn't want to sit in his house and think about the fact that my sister was just ripped in half and left in the woods – presumably for me to find.

I watched him running, jumping, spinning around the field. He was obviously coordinated when he wanted to show off his Alpha skills. I couldn't help but be impressed and a little turned on as his scent hit my nose.

"Excuse me, sorry, are you Derek?"

I turned to see a very pretty girl with dark curly hair, dimples, and the faint scent of magnolias under her nervousness. Beside her was a redhead with a haughty look on her face and a lemony scent under her perfume.

"Yeah, I am," I answered the dark-haired girl. She looked a little familiar, but I don't know where I would have known her.

"Oh okay, hi! I'm Alison, and this is Lydia" she introduced herself and the redhead, smiling widely and holding her hand out to me. I froze for a moment, realizing that she reminded me of  _her_ , before collecting myself.

I smiled at her, shaking her hand. "Hi, Stiles and Scott told me about you, you just moved here?" I asked her, moving over so that they could sit beside me. She seemed really nice, and I'd be nice as well, but I would still keep my guard up.

"Yeah, I did. Stiles is really nice," she shot me a look that I didn't quite understand, so I decided to ignore it. "Scott is, too," she added, a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Yeah, they are," I agreed, smiling slightly when my eye caught Stiles on the field.

"So, does Stiles know you're crushing on him?" I heard Lydia ask me, voice full of attitude and superiority. I turned to see the smirk on her face, like she thought she was exposing a huge secret.

"Well, I hope so," I told her, face forced into a serious expression. She raised her eyebrow at me in a question, while Allison smirked at her knees. Now I understood the look she gave me – she knew. Stiles must have said something earlier.

"He  _is_  my boyfriend," I informed Lydia, answering her silent question. Her mouth fell open and I couldn't help laughing when Allison started laughing, too. Lydia just looked so shocked.

"But, how?" Lydia demanded, throwing a look at me and then Stiles. I had to contain my threatening growl, I didn't like the look of disbelief she was wearing.

"How what?" I asked, my voice suddenly hard, daring her to say what she was thinking. I knew what it was – it was what Stiles already thought about himself, it was  _why_  he thought it.

"How did you two meet?" Allison asked me, cutting in before Lydia said what she was about to. Maybe Allison wasn't like her aunt.

"Our moms were really good friends, we grew up together. The Stilinski's are almost like my second family and I'm staying with them for a while – I just got back from New York after the last few years," I told her.

Allison was about to say something before Lydia blurted out: " _Wait_ , Derek? Derek  _Hale_?" I groaned inwardly, but just fixed my face into a neutral expression and nodded my head. "Oh my god, it was your family-"

"Yes, my family burned to death in a fire 5 years ago. That's why I was in New York."

Finally the whistle blew, signalling the end of practice. I breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

_Stiles' POV_

* * *

When Coach finally blew the whistle I was sweating and exhausted, and I was relieved to finally go over to see Derek. I ripped my helmet off and walked over to him, Scott by my side. I was surprised to see Lydia and Allison standing beside him, but I pushed it aside to take in the glorious view of Derek.

He was wearing my Henley, and a pair of my jeans – not the ones that I put out for him this morning – and the most breathtaking smile I had ever seen. For a minute, as cheesy as it was, the rest of the world disappeared and all I knew was Derek. I could smell the unease on him, but he was mostly happy.

I jogged the last little bit to him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, letting him rest his head on my shoulder and snake his arms around my waist for a few seconds. I nosed at the spot behind his ear, wordlessly asking if he was okay. When he pulled away he nodded at me, smiling softly.

"So, Allison, Lydia, you met Derek?" I asked them, keeping one of my hands on the small of his back, a little possessive, but also meant to be comforting. He seemed agitated.

"Yeah, he was telling me he was staying with you," Allison smiled at me. She turned that smile to Scott as he got over to us, Jackson close behind, moving beside Lydia.

"He also told us he's your  _boyfriend_ ," Lydia said, her voice full of disbelief. It wasn't unexpected. Still didn't feel great to have my fears voiced aloud by Lydia whom I had had a crush on for years.

Jackson snorted, "You're dating  _Stilinski_? Why?" Jackson's voice was full of scepticism, and I felt Derek tense up beside me, the rumbling of a growl growing, before it stopped as I felt a hand brushing against my hip. Derek was anchoring himself to me.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I was surprised to hear Scott asked. I had been so concerned with keeping Derek's anger in check I hadn't been paying attention to Scott. But it made sense that his temper would be a little harder to control – the full moon was in two days.

"It  _means-_ "

"Scott, it's fine," I whispered to Scott, trying not to egg Jackson on or Scott.

"-that I don't understand why someone, anyone really, would have such low standards to date Stilinski," Jackson told Scott, laughing. Lydia smirked at his comment, but I knew she was uncomfortable and a little annoyed at what an asshole her boyfriend could be. Allison, I was surprised to see, looked pissed.

I could faintly hear growling on either side of me, not loud enough for human ears, but getting louder every second.

"OKAY well thank you for that Jackson, charming as usual, we have to go," I told everyone. I knew Scott and Derek could barely hear me, they were too close to wolfing out. I pulled both of their arms, probably harder than necessary because I saw them both lose their footing for a moment before I was bodily shoving them. I knew that it would seem a little strange to the others that I could move both Scott and Derek – who were both bigger than me – so easily, but I really couldn't have them near Jackson right now.

I smirked when I heard Allison berating Jackson for what he had said. She really was awesome.

"Okay guys, lets relax, it's just Jackson," I was trying to say soothingly but it apparently wasn't working all that well because they were snarling and snapping their jaws and trying to turn around and run at Jackson again. I just had to keep tugging them towards the locker room. I was pretty sure if I got them there I could get them to calm down. I just needed a closed room with no one else around where I was the only person they could focus on.

"Derek, I need you to calm down, I need you to help me with Scott," I was whispering in Derek's ear. Maybe if he heard that I needed him his Mate instincts would kick in. I guess I was right because I heard him starting to calm down, only slightly but still, calming.

"Stiles, I don't-I can't-let me go back and teach that kid a lesson," he gasped, fighting with his wolf to become human again.

"Derek, you don't need to, Jackson has always been like that," I assured him, rubbing my face on his arm. Then I got an idea that I hoped would work. "Der, what's your anchor?"

"It used to be anger, but now-now it's you," he forced out, the occasional word coming out as a growl. I was surprised, but very pleased.

"Okay, so, put your face in my neck," I told him. We were in the locker room now and I closed the door behind me, still keeping a tight hold on a completely wolfed out Scott.

Derek shoved his nose against my throat, snuffling against the pulse point there. I heard his heartbeat slow down immediately and couldn't keep the ridiculous grin off of my face, despite the situation.

After a few minutes Derek lifted his head to rest against mine, "Okay, I'm fine, sorry, I didn't mean to get worked up, but he's just so  _wrong_."

"I know baby, I know, we can talk about it later but I need to stop Scott," I told him, kissing his cheek before letting go of him.

I turned my full attention to Scott, took a deep breath and roared his name, as loud as I could, eyes flashing. He turned his face to me, his eyes gold and his fangs dropped, before he stopped growling, his eyes stopped glowing and eventually his fangs disappeared. He was panting and sweating but the shift was controlled.

"Stiles, you can't just let him-how does that not bother you? How are you so calm about Jackson?" Scott asked me, seeming genuinely curious.

"I don't believe what he's saying," I told him, sounding sincere. The soft growl behind me was the only indicator that I was lying, but Scott either didn't hear it or he took no notice. "Besides," I rushed on, "I stopped listening to Jackson years ago," I told him, laughing lightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lose control, I just got mad and it just got worse until I could barely see or hear anything except Jackson and I got more mad," he justified. I shook my head.

"Scotty, don't apologize, you actually controlled yourself better than I would have thought, it took you a while to totally wolf-out. I was a little impressed honestly," I admitted, smirking at him.

"I lost it too Scott, it happens," Derek told him, which I appreciated. It was important for them to encourage and help each other. I smiled at them.

"Thank you guys, for defending my honour, I do appreciate it," I told them, joking slightly but being mostly serious. I pulled them both in for an awkward group hug.

"How about we get changed and go back to my place, we still have something extremely unpleasant to do tonight," I suggested. They both nodded, Scott and I going to the showers to rinse off really quickly before getting dressed. I had to tell Derek that Scott probably wouldn't appreciate us grinding up against each other in the same room as him before he finally stopped trying to follow me.

After we got dressed, we all piled in the Jeep and headed to my place, dreading what we were about to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm so sorry I've been gone so long, I got really caught up in school work and then when the holidays came I still didn't have time to write. I know those aren't great excuses but that's my reasoning and I am truly very sorry!
> 
> Hello to all new readers, thank you for joining us!
> 
> Anyways, I don't know when I'll have time to write next, hopefully soon, but this semester might kick my ass so we'll see.
> 
> Let me know what you all think of the chapter! Thank you again for all the reviews and favourites, I really, really, really appreciate it!


	5. Together

“How deep did you bury her Derek?” Scott complained under his breath, forgetting we could hear him. I glanced over at him, wanting to say something but knowing it wasn’t really my place. Not right now.

“Six feet, Scott. Like every other grave,” Derek told him, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “And it’s only been 20 minutes,” he pointed out, shaking his head at Scott.

I snorted, still not saying anything. I was just glad they were getting along and I didn’t have to referee. I could just focus on making sure Derek was alright. He was obviously upset – we were digging up half of his sister’s body – but he seemed to be coping. I had offered to do this, just me and Scott, but he wouldn’t have that.

“I need to do this Stiles, she’s my sister, and I need to be there for her,” he had told me, his eyes burning with determination. “And for me,” he whispered, quiet enough that I knew I wasn’t supposed to hear him.

After another 30 minutes of digging I felt the tarp that Derek had wrapped Laura in, and I helped Scott uncover it while Derek cut open the string holding it together. I wasn’t exactly prepared for what we found inside.

“What the fuck!” Scott yelped and leapt completely out of the hole, shaking from the surprise.

Instead of finding Laura Hale’s body, we found black wolf head.

“She could do it, too?” I asked Derek, awe filling my voice. He nodded, unable to speak as he looked down at his sister. “Come on, baby, lets get her out of the hole,” I encouraged him quietly, nudging my nose against his throat.

He jumped out of the hole and waited for me to hand her up to him. As he was moving her away from the hole I got out and moved over to the purple flower that I had noticed beside the grave.

“Scott, come here,” I called over to him, interrupting his staring. I thought Derek might like to have a moment alone with his sister.

“Stiles, what the hell? Why was there a wolf head?” Scott whispered, obviously trying not to disturb Derek. I knew Derek could hear him, but it was the effort that mattered. I guess.

“Some werewolves have the ability to fully shift into a wolf – it seems to be a Hale pack trait, not that everyone can. But I have seen it more in Derek’s family than any other pack, his mother had the ability, and I guess Laura learned after becoming Alpha,” I explained to him. I always loved when I was younger and Talia would shift for me. She would play with us, like a dog would play with it’s family.

“Anyways, that’s not why I called you over here,” I told him. “Do you see this flower?” I asked him pointing to the purple plant.

He nodded. “Yeah, what is it?” he asked me, sniffing at it. He wrinkled his nose, obviously not liking the scent of it.

“It’s got a few names. Aconite, Monkshood, but more commonly it’s known as Wolfsbane,” I told him.

“That doesn’t sound like I’m going to like it,” he commented, showing his occasional intelligence.

“You’re right, wolfsbane can be used in many different ways against you,” I continued explaining. “It’s made into bullets and powders, and any contact, especially if it enters your blood, can be fatal. It can almost always be cured, but there is a time limit,” I finished.

That was when I realized – the flower was planted here recently. I tugged on it, thinking it would come out easily. But then, as I kept pulling, I realized it was tied to a rope.

“Ohhhhh,” I breathed, finally realizing what Derek had planted this here for, and why Laura had been in wolf form when she’d been dug up. I kept pulling it up, circling the grave and being careful not to touch the flower itself. I saw a flash of red once the rest of the rope had been pulled up, the spiral glowing.

“I didn’t want anyone to find her and think I had killed her,” Derek said from behind me. I nodded, putting the flower back on the ground and turning to face him. He was looking down into the face of his big sister and the look of utter pain on his face was almost too much for me to handle.

But I had to be strong, this was his grief, and I needed him to know I could help him through it. I couldn’t be selfish and think about my own feelings right now.

“I know, I understand,” I whispered, touching his shoulder. “Okay, so we need to get far enough from here so it will seem more like she was in the woods and attacked, as opposed to near the house where she used to live,” I told them both, matter-of-factly. The sooner we got this done, the sooner we could get to the station.

Derek nodded at me and began running away from his house with Laura cradled in his arms, Scott and I right behind him. When we got far enough away to a different area of the forest we stopped. Scott was breathing a little heavier than us because he wasn’t used to this yet but it was silent apart from that.

“Are you okay?” Scott asked Derek, a heavy note of panic in his question. Derek turned to him, and I could smell that he really wasn’t – he didn’t want to leave her here. “Do you want help?” Scott asked, shocking both myself and Derek.

“I-” Derek whispered, clearing his throat before continuing, “I don’t want to leave her here,” he confessed, staring at Scott with wide eyes and a look on his face that I had never seen there before. He looked so vulnerable and lost, like he couldn’t comprehend what had led him here, nor could he imagine how to move on from this point.

“Let Stiles and I help you, we’re your pack. You can ask for help Derek, it’s alright,” Scott told him, taking a tentative step towards him. When he didn’t move away from Scott or look threatened I took that as encouragement.

Scott turned his head to me, questioning if he should keep going. I nodded, tilting my head towards Derek for a moment.

“You won’t be leaving her, Derek,” Scott told him, voice low and comforting now. “You’ll be making sure we have more help finding out what happened to her. When we call the Sheriff, he’ll make sure she’s safe, and you’ll get to see her again in a few hours,” he assured Derek, taking another step.

Derek looked like he was relaxing, and Scott took a few more steps towards him.

“Can I help, Derek?” Scott asked, putting his hands out a little for Derek to give him Laura’s body. Scott was being smart, not grabbing at her, but leaving it up to Derek. This was proof of Scott working at a veterinarian’s, because this was what you did with territorial and protective animals.

Derek stared at Scott for a few seconds before he sighed and put the body in Scott’s arms as though she was made from glass. I looked at Scott to see if he needed help, but he shook his head, motioning to help Derek.

I walked over to Derek, who was just standing as though he were glued to the spot. “Derek?” I whispered, putting my hand against his cheek.

He looked at me finally, like he was finally realizing where he was. “Stiles?” He asked, sounding absolutely wrecked.

“I’m sorry baby, I’m so sorry,” I told him, pulling him against me. He collapsed in my arms, and I just held him up. I could feel him sobbing into my shoulder, but he was absolutely silent, so I just rubbed his back and said nothing, because there was nothing I _could_ say. He just knew I was here, and that was all I could do for him right now.

After a few minutes his breathing began returning to normal and he stood up in front of me, wiping his nose on his sleeve. His face was composed into it’s usual brooding frown and he took a last steadying breath.

“Okay, I’m ready now. Scott,” he directed over my shoulder, “you can come back now.”

Scott was beside us in seconds.

“Thank you, both,” he told us, back to his usual Derek verbosity. He moved away from me, enough to grab Scott’s shoulder in a show of thanks. Scott gave Derek his signature, adorable, crooked smile and turned it to me.

“Is it weird that I feel like we’re… a family? It’s only been, like, a day, but this feels like it’s right, like it’s something I’ve been… missing,” Scott explained, sounding more sure of himself when he had finished.

“Nah man, I feel the same way with all of this. It just feels _complete_ , I guess is the only way I can explain it,” I told him. “We’re Pack, and I think it was always meant to be us,” I said, grabbing Derek’s hand and putting my other hand on Scott’s arm. I could feel it in my bones that I was right. This was how things were meant to be for us, even if the circumstances weren’t the best.

“Let’s get out of here so I can call your dad from the burner phone I got,” Derek said. I nodded, leading the way to my Jeep. I could tell he was anxious to get this over with. We all were.

We got back to my place, and while Derek was making the call (he insisted and wouldn’t let me), I asked Scott if he was coming with us to the station.

“I think it would look better if it was just you two, at least at first. I could always come after dinner or something, show support after the identification and stuff. I think it would look like more of a shock if you called me panicked or something while Derek is getting questioned,” Scott recommended.

He left shortly after that – his mom wanted him home for dinner because she wasn’t working an evening shift for once. Derek and I decided to pretend, for a couple hours anyways, that things were normal. Or at least we tried. I got through most of my homework, though that only took me half an hour because I was either ahead in reading the chapters or it was just super easy.

Mostly we just smelled anxious and tense and pretended we were fine and sat beside each other on the couch not paying attention to the TV that was turned to whatever channel it had been on last.

At 7:19, not that I was keeping track of the seconds ticking by, Derek got a call from the station. He answered the call with fingers that were slightly shaking, and a voice that was calm and composed.

 “Hello, this is Derek Hale.”

“ **Mr. Hale, this is Deputy Graeme. I’m calling to inform you that you are needed at the station as soon as possible.** ”

“Alright, I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

The call only lasted a minute, but I could practically feel the anxiety and stress coming off him. Thank god Derek wasn’t obvious to humans.

“Okay, I’m driving,” I told him, grabbing my keys. It wasn’t negotiable and he wasn’t stupid enough to try and argue with me. We both got in the Jeep and I drove the familiar route to the station. I drove a little over the speed limit but that isn’t uncommon for me. Derek definitely wasn’t complaining.

We got there in just under ten minutes. When we walked in Derek’s hand was gripping mine so tightly it was only due to my Alpha strength that the bones weren’t breaking – or at least they were healing almost immediately, so I didn’t feel the need to make him feel bad. This is what I was here for.

I saw the Deputies looking at me, confusion radiating from them. I nodded to a few of them but kept my attention on Derek. He was keeping it together, but just barely. This was all too real for him. Yes, he already knew she was dead, he had seen her, called it in, whatever. But this made it official, this would tell him exactly how she died, confirm that she had been murdered.

“It’s okay Der, I’m right here, okay? So is Dad, and Scott will be here when I call him,” I whispered just loud enough for him, and only him, to hear me. He nodded slightly, probably not trusting his voice.

We got over to my dad’s office, and Derek knocked. Dad opened his door and invited Derek and I in.

When he closed the door behind us, and it was only us three in the room, Derek collapsed in a chair with his head in his hands. He was shaking now after the effort of keeping it together.

“Derek, are you okay?” Dad asked. Derek was always strong and always had his shit together and it was very obvious that he was falling apart. Derek just answered with a low groan and a shake of his head.

“Der, I’m going to have to leave the room, are you okay in here with my dad? I can stay for a few more minutes, and you can pretend you’re just hearing the news for the first time right now and scream if you need to,” I told him softly.

“I’m fine, I wouldn’t get loud or violent if this was a shock, not in public anyways,. Can you just stay here for a few minutes so that I can calm down?” He asked me, voice barely above a whisper.

“Of course I can, and when I leave I’ll call Scott right away and then we’ll both be here and that will help, okay?” I reassured him, putting my forehead against his and breathing deeply.

He nodded, leaning into my hand on the side of his face. I rubbed his back for a few minutes, feeling him relax under my touch. He was breathing with me, scenting me. I hoped Dad would smell enough like me that it would help Derek stay calm.

“Okay love, I have to go now, Dad is just going to talk to you, maybe go over some stuff with you, but I’ll be right outside this room. I love you,” I whispered, kissing him. He sank into the kiss, desperate for the calm it brought him, for any distraction.

“I love you, too, Mischief,” he told me, touching my face.

When I was leaving, dad nodded at me, and I knew it meant he would make sure Derek was fine. I knew he would be, he was Derek and he knew how to handle himself. But I could feel the stress he was trying to hold back.

The door closed behind me and I looked up into the faces of my dad’s deputies and all I could get was shock and surprise. It wasn’t meant to be as malicious as Jackson’s reactions, but I still bristled at the fact that none of them thought I was good enough for Derek.

I breathed in deeply, focusing back on Derek again – I needed to get my shit together, I needed to be believable. I pulled my phone out, making sure my hand was shaking when I called Scott.

“ **Hey Stiles, what’s up?** ” His mom was in the room, he was keeping up his side of the act.

“Scott, I need-I need you to get here now,” I told him, fake panic making my voice higher than usual.

“ **Okay, Stiles, what’s wrong? Where are you?** ” The concern in his voice almost convinced _me_.

“I’m-I’m at the station. Derek’s sister, she-she, _Laura’s dead_ Scott!” My words almost ran together I was talking so fast. I was practically yelling, too – I knew Melissa would be able to hear my tone at the very least. Scott would have no problem getting here.

“ **Okay, Stiles, I’ll be right there, then you can tell me everything. I’ll be right there,** ” he assured me. He hung up and I put the phone back in my pocket.

I could hear Derek getting worried about me in my dad’s office. He knew I was fine, but I understood – he didn’t like that he wasn’t with me when I sounded like this. I sat down on the bench outside my dad’s office and put my head in my hands, breathing deeply, like I was trying to calm myself down.

“I’m fine Sourwolf, Scott’s coming,” I said in barely a whisper. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Tara walked over to ask me if I needed anything, to see if I was okay. I told her I was fine, Scott was on his way over and we would be okay, but I thanked her with a weak smile.

A few minutes after the phone call, Scott was bursting in the doors and panting. He ran over to me and tugged me into a bone crushing hug. Even though my panic wasn’t real and I had seen him earlier this afternoon I felt much better with my whole pack here.

“Stiles, are you and Derek okay?” Scott asked me, pulling back to look in my eyes.

“I’m fine, I’m just trying not to freak out. I know you never met Laura, but you know she was like family to me, and Derek… she was all he had left. I just can’t believe he came all this way to find out she’s dead. Now he’s alone, and I don’t know what to do – how do you help someone who’s lost everything?” I rambled, voicing some real concerns. The emotion in my voice was all too real.

“Stiles, Derek is not alone, and he hasn’t lost everything,” Scott told me, the strength behind his words shocking me. Maybe he _could_ tell I wasn’t lying. “He has your dad, and me, and best of all – _you_. He loves you, Stiles. He just needs help and _we will do everything_ to help him,” he assured me, making me feel a little better.

“Thanks Scotty, you’re the best. You’re right, of course,” I told him, smirking at him and punching his shoulder lightly. He returned the gesture.

“Where is Derek, anyways? In with your dad?” He asked, looking around like he thought he may have possibly missed Derek hiding behind a plant or something. I nodded. “Okay, so he’s in good hands,” Scott breathed a sigh of relief.

“Don’t tell me, are you growing fond of the guy, Scotty?” I teased him, trying to lighten the mood in here and in my dad’s office.

“Well, obviously, he’s like family now, I don’t think I could handle losing him any more than I could handle losing you,” Scott told me, obviously ignoring my attempt at humour. I was still touched.

“Aww, Scotty, that’s sweet! I’ll let him know you feel that way about him,” I told him, smirking but bringing him into another hug.

We went and sat on the bench and listened to my dad ask Derek questions that he hadn’t gotten around to asking the other night, or just clarifying any details. After about half an hour my dad and Derek came out of the office and Scott and I stood up.

Scott, surprising us all again, walked over to Derek and wrapped him up in a hug. Derek seemed frozen for a moment but relaxed into the contact pretty quickly, holding onto Scott like a lifeline. I could hear Scott whispering to Derek but I tuned it out – it was between them and they deserved to have that privacy. If they wanted to tell me later, they could.

“Do you guys want a ride home? Because I’ll be here for a while, but I can at least drive you home if you need me to,” my dad was asking us. I shook my head.

“No, thanks dad, I drove here. I’m going to drive Scott home and then Der and I are going to go home, try and get some sleep,” I told him, grabbing Derek’s hand now that he wasn’t hugging Scott anymore.

“Alright, well let me know if you guys need anything. Don’t wait up for me,” he told us. He put his hand on Derek’s shoulder and they both nodded to each other. Total bro moment.

“Come on, Sourwolf, let’s get you and Scotty home.”

* * *

Derek and I dropped Scott off, thanking him for coming to the station and everything else he had done for us. Then, we went home. Neither of us felt like doing much, we weren’t hungry, so we just went upstairs and sat on my bed.

“We should shower, we still haven’t properly cleaned up after everything today,” I told Derek. He nodded but didn’t seem able to move. I think he was numb after everything. Not in shock, but not fully in the present.

I put his arm around my shoulders and helped him walk to my bathroom, sitting him on the toilet while I got the water running. When it was the right temperature I pulled my clothes off, then stood Derek up and took his off, too.

“Okay baby, into the shower,” I murmured, helping him get under the water. I washed his body gently, being careful with him even when I knew he was far less breakable than a human. I quickly washed myself off, barely paying any attention to the fact that I was scrubbing myself very harshly.

When the shower was done I brought Derek over to the bed. I didn’t bother putting clothes on him, he would have taken them off when he came to and he needed the contact of skin-on-skin for comfort. I lay down and pulled him over to me so that he was half on top of me, cuddled up to my side, and began running my fingers through his hair. This was something wolves did, groom each other for comfort, and my mom used to do it for me when I was sad.

“It’s okay, Der, I’m here, I promise I’m not leaving you,” I murmured into the darkness. I didn’t know if he was listening or if he could hear me but maybe the calm tone would sink in subconsciously and help. It was all I could really do for him.

I knew when he came back to himself, I could feel him shifting slightly and his scent actually took on some emotion, as opposed to the lack of scent he’d had.

“Hi, my love,” I whispered, still petting him and trying to make sure he knew I was still there.

“Stiles, my Stiles,” he mumbled against my throat. I smiled softly, humming a little at the possession in those words.

He began kissing my collar bone and up the side of my neck to my ear, mumbling “Stiles” and “mine” the whole time.

“What do you need baby?” I asked him. I was guessing what he wanted, but I wasn’t sure if that was the best thing for him right now. But I wasn’t going to push too much either way.

“You, please, make me forget, just for a little bit, please Stiles,” he practically sobbed, clinging to me at this point.

“Are you sure sweetheart? I don’t want you to regret this later,” I told him, rubbing his back to let him know I still wanted him near me.

“I want this, I want you, I _need_ you,” he told me. He moved his mouth so it was just hovering above mine, waiting for me to close the gap.

I couldn’t deny him anything, especially not right now. And I would be lying if I said that I didn’t want this either. I moved forward to press my lips to his, cradling his face in my hands and moving slowly against him. I rolled us so that I was on top of him and I pressed my body against his. I didn’t move against him, it wasn’t for me to take, it was my turn to give. I was going to let Derek take whatever he needed from me.

He grabbed at my arms, then moved his hands to my hips, grinding up against me. The broken moans coming from him were almost too much for me to handle, but I kept myself in control. I moved my hand down to his length and stroked a few times, which earned me a few gasps and more ‘please Stiles, I need you’s’.

“Take what you need, baby, I’m yours,” I told him, breaking from the kiss and breathing heavily.

Derek whined, grinding up against me once more. Then, realizing he was in control here, grabbed my hand and moved it further down to his hole. I moved my eyes to his so fast I almost gave myself whiplash.

“You-you’re sure?” I asked him. Derek letting me do this was putting him in the most vulnerable position I could think of, it was putting absolute trust in me, not just as his Alpha but as a human being. This was a man that didn’t find it easy to trust others, and this was a big deal.

“I need you to, I need to feel you in me,” he begged me, tears in his eyes. I nodded, hearing that he was telling the truth. I took a deep breath and slid a finger in him.

It went in easily, but I knew I would need to grab the lube in my bedside table to go any further. The angle was awkward, too, but I didn’t want to move from my position over Derek, it was making him feel protected.

And holy shit, the way he arched up and moaned low when my finger entered him was the most magical moment in my life.

I brought my mouth to his chest to lick and suck on one nipple, reaching with my free hand for my drawer. The moans I was getting from him were definite encouragement.

“More,” he gasped after a few minutes of slowly moving my finger in and out of him.

I pulled my finger out to pour lube onto my hand. Derek whined, but I was soon stretching him a bit more with a second finger. When I had stretched him enough with four fingers he was writhing on the bed below me, but I didn’t want to chance hurting him by fucking him before he was ready.

“Stiles, please, I can’t handle anymore waiting, _please_ ,” he pleaded with me. I don’t even know if he was fully aware of what he was saying because he seemed pretty out of everything except the feeling of my fingers in him.

I pulled out of him slowly, and was pushing my cock into him before he could even whine about being empty. When I was fully seated in him I took a moment to get used to the feeling of being inside Derek. I didn’t think I would ever actually get used to this but I just needed to orient myself with the warmth and tightness of Derek.

I leaned over him, my forehead on his, and pulled out slowly before pushing back into him again. I fucked him slow for a while, both of us moaning quietly and kissing every once in a while. After the longest five minutes of my life Derek was pleading again, begging for more.

So I gave him more.

At first I just moved a little faster but it didn’t matter, because he didn’t want gentle right now. He wanted me to _fuck_ him. He wanted to feel something.

I started moving as fast as I could, pounding into him so hard that it would have left bruises on anyone else.

“Fuck Der, yes. You feel so good for me, baby. Fuck, you’re beautiful.”

“Yes, fuck Stiles, like that, fuck, claim me, make me yours, please Stiles.”

We were both moaning and begging, and I was kissing his shoulders and neck and mouth and practically everywhere I could reach. He was running his hands all over my arms and chest and hips, trying to pull me even closer to him. Then I felt him start to tense up slightly, his muscles squeezing around my cock the tiniest bit.

“Fuck Stiles, I’m close,” he groaned, just bringing me even closer to the edge.

“Me too, baby. Come for me baby, that’s it,” I told him. I moaned at the feeling of him squeezing around me again.

“Fuck Derek, _fuck_ ,” I groaned.

Derek grabbed me and pulled me down, moaning my name one last time before sinking his teeth into my shoulder as he came all over our stomachs.

Derek’s teeth in my shoulder pushed me over the edge, making me roar. I gave him a matching bite as I emptied into him. I could hear Derek, like he was far away, moaning my name. I forced myself to come back to reality much faster than I wanted to, but this had been all about him, not me.

I pulled out of him and rolled over so we could resume our original position and started cleaning the mark I left on him without even realizing what I was doing. Until I heard him moaning quietly in my ear.

“Does that… feel good?” I asked, curious about it. I then realized – _it hadn’t healed_. Or at least it hadn’t disappeared.

“Yeah, so good,” Derek sighed, sounding completely blissed out.

“It’s not disappearing,” I told him, tracing the mark on his shoulder with my finger lightly. He sighed again, sounding content.

“It won’t ever fade completely, it’ll always be there, probably just look like a scar,” he whispered.

I didn’t respond, just began running my fingers through his hair again. We lay like that for quite a while, his breath softly ghosting across my skin and his fingers tracing patterns into my ribs.

“Thank you,” he said quietly, almost like he was shy.

“There’s no need to thank me, darling, it was wonderful for me. And I wanted to help you in any way I could. You never need to thank me for that,” I told him, kissing his forehead and pulling him closer to me.

He hummed happily against my skin, still blissed out. I was happy I could help him for a little bit, but I was worried about what would happen when he came back to the present and faced what he was avoiding. I knew that numbing yourself from pain didn’t make it easier to deal with.

“Is there anything else you need?” I asked him, hoping I could help. I wasn’t sure what I could do for him though.

“Just lay here with me,” he whispered, and I could feel that he was coming down from the sex-high. He was coming back to the reality of his life.

“Of course, baby,” I assured him. I was being filled with this fierce desire to protect him, and at first I thought it was because he’s my Beta, Pack, but that wasn’t it. I realized this is human, this has nothing to do with werewolf stuff. This is love and what it’s like to watch the person you are in love with go through something absolutely terrible – especially if you understand that pain.

I listened to his breathing even out as he fell asleep, which happened much faster than I thought it would. I held him, listening, hoping he wasn’t having nightmares. And eventually I followed him into sleep, though mine was uneasy and filled with dreams of hearing Derek screaming and not being able to find him.

* * *

My alarm went off at 7 am, like every other school day, and at first I forgot what the implications for today were. And then it all came rushing back to me – everything from yesterday, and _today_. Today was Friday, the full moon.

“Fuck,” I groaned quietly. At least, I had thought it was quiet. But Derek jumping away from me like I had burned him made me think otherwise.

He was staring at me, glowing eyes wide and fearful, curled up against the wall. I really needed to ask him at a better time what _exactly_ Kate did to him.

“Derek, it’s okay, it’s me baby,” I said softly, not moving so as not to freak him out any more. His eyes just focused slightly better on my face. “It’s Stiles, I won’t hurt you, I’m sorry my love. I didn’t mean to wake you or scare you.”

Recognition dawned in his eyes and they went back to their usual green. He relaxed slightly, the tension visibly leaving his arms and shoulders.

“Stiles? I’m-I’m-” he stammered, looking like he was about to fall apart. I reached out for him, pulling him into my body and holding him as he sobbed. I knew everything would hit him, and hit him hard, when he woke up and he couldn’t hide from it. And I also knew this was the last time he would allow himself to feel anything like this for his loss. So I would wait and help him through it.

“Shh, it’s okay Der, I know. I’m not upset at you, I love you so much,” I murmured to him, petting his hair again.

I let him cry as long as he wanted, which was about ten or fifteen minutes, and then waited until he felt like talking. I didn’t say anything, leaving everything up to him.

Finally, he took a deep breath and began speaking. “I’m sorry for cr-”

“Don’t apologize for feeling like this Derek Hale, this is perfectly normal, and perfectly healthy, and I’m here to help you,” I told him softly, kissing him several times to soften everything I had said.

He sighed, “I love you.” Then, “Holy shit, that looks like it hurts.”

I looked down to see what he was talking about and realized he was staring at where he bit me. I couldn’t quite see it so I looked at his mark instead.

“Wow,” I breathed. Because there was the perfect mark of my teeth. I ran my finger over it, marvelling at the fact that it was still there.

Derek began moaning the second my fingers touched the mark, his eyes closing and his entire body going limp in my arms. I smirked at the possibilities this brought me.

I didn’t do anything right now though, not with him feeling like this. I just kissed the side of his neck softly, burying my nose there, closing my eyes and just inhaling the scent of me and Derek.

After a few minutes he sighed again and nudged me, making me grumble at him because I didn’t want to move. It was so comfortable and smelled so nice in this bed with him.

“I know you need to go to school today Stiles,” he reminded me. I sighed loudly. I would have stayed with him, but there was no way Scott would be able to stay home and I needed to keep an eye on him today.

Derek rolled off of me so that I could get out of bed, kicking off the blanket as he went.

When I was out of bed I turned around to look at him and groaned at the sight of him, stretched out on my bed, perfect abs and arms and legs and tattoos and face.

 _Tattoo **s**_.

 _The mating marks_.

I ran over to him, straddling him without even thinking about what I was doing. There it was, just above his left hip. A fox – and it was _moving_. It was jumping excitedly.

“Holy shit,” I whispered. Derek was looking at my bicep that he had been laying on earlier. I looked down and saw a black wolf sitting and wagging his tail, but otherwise not moving. I pulled my eyes away from the wolf and looked at the shocked expression on Derek’s face.

“This is so weird, it’s like they're… us. Like, wolf-me looks like he’s feeling what I’m… feeling. What about fox-you?” Derek asked me, running his thumb over the wolf.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” I answered him, staring at the fox that had now run all the way up to lay over Derek’s heart protectively. I blushed, knowing that Derek would probably see the fox like that most of the time. But then I somehow felt the wolf moving to lay in the same spot over my heart, too.

It was nice to have this reminder, this way to know how Derek was and to be reminded how he feels about me. This was proof.

“Didn’t you say there was some… ability or whatever that came with mating, too?” I asked, curious now.

“Yeah, but I don’t feel anything. I don’t know what it could be, or maybe it takes a little longer to set in?” Derek asked, probably thinking out loud.

“Yeah, maybe,” I answered. “Okay, now I have to get up for school, really,” I told him regretfully. I watched the fox’s ears droop sadly.

Yeah, the fox really did know what I was feeling. I wondered if it knew how stressed I felt about today, or if it could feel what I could feel – that today was not going to be easy, at all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if I need to tag anything here but I wanted to tag to be safe! Derek is extremely upset about the events concerning his sister and has sex with Stiles to cope. The sex is completely consensual and Stiles asks Derek more than once if it's what he wants, but I wanted to make sure this was put on here. I don't want to upset anyone if I can help it!
> 
> If this would upset you, comment asking for a summary of the chapter and I will be more than happy to post it here!
> 
>  
> 
> Hi guys! Sorry this took so long, I meant to get this done over my reading week but I got really busy with assignments and could only work on this when I was taking breaks. But I finally got it finished!
> 
> This is the first time I've ever written a sex-scene between two dudes, and as I am not one I am mostly going off research and other fanfics I've read so let me know if there's anything I can work on/change/etc.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and I apologize for the cliff! Thanks for reading, favouriting, and following!


	6. Change

“Hey Stiles, how are you feeling? How is Derek?” Scott asked me when I met him in the hallway outside his locker. He truly sounded concerned for Derek and sad about what had happened to him. I was so lucky to have our pack, even if it was small and a little damaged.

“He’s alright, a little emotional but I think he’s going to be okay,” I told him, but I knew the concern for my boyfriend was obvious on my face, as it was on Scott’s.

“We’re still hanging out at your place tonight, right?” Scott asked a little pointedly, giving me a look that said he was trying to keep the ruse going. Allison must be close. I listened for her while I answered.

“Yeah, I don’t think Derek wants to be alone tonight,” I told him, sadness permeating my tone a little more than was probably necessary. Allison was across the hallway, just out of my line of sight. I wasn’t sure if she could hear but I wanted to help Scotty with her as much as I could. “You really helped the both of us last night at the station, so thank you. Derek was really grateful, too.”

I hoped Scott could hear that I was being sincere, that this wasn’t just for show. I know Derek and I hadn’t really talked about it but I still wanted him to know that Derek and I really did love him and we were appreciative of everything he had done for us.

“Well, I love you and Derek and I want to do everything I can for you guys,” Scott told me, looking like he had completely forgot about Allison for a moment.

I just smiled at him, and he smiled back.

“Oh, by the way,” I added under my breath so no one could hear me, “I have a lot to tell you about what happened last night and this morning, but later.” Scott nodded slightly and we began walking to English. When we were about to walk past Allison and Lydia they stopped us. I knew they knew, this wasn’t something that could stay quiet in Beacon Hills. And our faces were proof enough.

“Stiles, I’m so sorry about Derek’s sister,” Allison told me, touching my arm. She was so sincere, I could hear it. Either she didn’t know about werewolves, or she didn’t believe the same things as her family seemed to. I was guessing she didn’t know.

“Thanks Allison, I’ll tell him you said that,” I smiled sadly.

“We’ll see you guys in class?” Scott questioned, touching my shoulder. I still hadn’t told him about the scenting and contact thing with wolves but he was seeming to get this stuff instinctually. Either way, it was nice to feel part of my pack with me.

“Obviously,” Lydia answered, the sass a little downplayed with the sympathy in her voice. Lydia didn’t sympathize outwardly, she thought it showed weakness.

We went to class then, sitting in the back. I paid attention to the teacher as much as I could, but I could feel this pull in my chest, like the wolf tattoo was trying to get back to Derek. It didn’t hurt, but it was like an incessant tugging near my heart. When I checked, that was where the wolf was still curled protectively. I smiled briefly at the reminder.

Then, during second period, something happened. I don’t know exactly how but it just… _did_.

I was thinking about Derek and wishing I could know how Derek was doing, that I could see him, and then I just could. Well, I couldn’t see him exactly, but I could see _through_ him, through his eyes. I could hear his heart beat, I could smell the room the way he could, I could feel the bed underneath him.

I gasped, and then panicked because I didn’t know how I had done it, which also meant I didn’t know how to _undo it_.

Until I felt someone’s hand on my arm, shaking me slightly, and I grounded myself to that feeling and used it to pull myself back. It took a lot of effort and I was sweating, but I finally found myself on the floor of the classroom with Scott’s face inches from mine. His eyes were gold and I could see the reflection of my Alpha red. I tried to make it stop but I couldn’t, I was still panicking about what had just happened and then about the eyes and then about if people could see me.

It was just a cycle of panic honestly.

“… okay, Stiles, it’s fine,” I heard Scott telling me, and I realized he had been talking to me for a while. I tried to say his name, maybe to show him that I needed him to take me out of the room, but all that came out was a whine that was slightly too animal. Hopefully nobody would realize.

“Okay, we’re going Stiles, just try and breathe,” Scott told me. I closed my eyes, and he kept his on me because they were still gold. Today was the worst day for me to lose control.

He half carried me out of the room and then out to the parking lot, far enough away that nobody from the school could really see anything. Which was really good because I was half wolfed out. I was calming down slowly, and just trying to force myself to do it faster because I needed to keep in control for Scott.

Eventually I got my breathing under control, my heartbeat following. That was when I felt it, the urgency of the wolf moving across my chest, like it was stressed. I pulled my shirt off, now worried about Derek.

The wolf was pacing and panting, and I could feel the pull between me and Derek through our bond – Derek was coming. I needed to be completely calm for him when he gets here, for him and Scott.

I took a few deep breaths, making sure I was completely fine.

“Dude, are you okay? Why do you have a tattoo? _Why is it moving?_ ” Scott asked me, sounding more frantic with each question.

“I’m fine, I’ll explain in a second. Derek will be here in a few minutes and it’s much easier to just explain it the one time,” I said. “Just try to calm down Scotty, focus on your breathing so that you don’t lose control,” I suggested.

He didn’t answer, but I could hear him taking my advice and I smiled to myself. Hearing Scott keep himself calm kept me calm too.

The wolf still hadn’t stopped pacing across my chest, Derek was still panicking.

“So, Scott, Derek is freaking out because I was freaking out so just try to keep yourself calm.”

And then I heard him, running toward me. I stood up, and he ran into my outstretched arms, panting. After a few seconds he pulled away from me and checked me out to make sure I wasn’t hurt.

“I’m okay, Der, I’m sorry I freaked out. Something just happened that I couldn’t understand,” I said calmly. He still wasn’t calming down so I put my fingers under his chin, making his eyes stay on mine.

“Derek, breathe. Look at the fox, look at him and you will see I am okay,” I told him, now more grateful to these tattoos than I had been before.

He pulled the collar of his shirt to the left so that he could see the fox – it looked like it was trying to rub the side of his face against Derek, trying to calm him down. Derek stared at it for half a minute while his breathing slowed down and he smelled much calmer.

Derek looked up and nodded slightly, letting me know he was okay now.

“Okay, can someone please tell me _what the fuck is happening?_ ” Scott demanded behind me. I was just glad he had had the sense to keep quiet until Derek had stopped freaking out.

I turned around, “Well, Scott. Derek and I had sex last night and now we have a wolfy bond.”

Scott’s face didn’t change much except to look a little disturbed at the image of Derek and I banging. I grabbed my shirt to put it back on, it was probably more than a little weird if anyone could see that I was shirtless.

“Eloquent as always, Stiles,” Derek muttered behind me. “What Stiles means is that when an Alpha and their mate consummate the bond, the bond then becomes official and the couple gets a mark and an ability between the two of them – hence the tattoos. However, I don’t know what the ability is yet,” Derek explained.

“Succinct, I like it,” I told him, nudging him with my elbow.

“That’s… really cool actually. But why do they move?”

“They let us know how the other person feels,” I said excitedly. Fox me had now moved to Derek’s forearm and was hopping around excitedly again. Derek huffed a laugh and Scott just stared at it, mouth slightly open.

“Anyways, I figured out our ability or whatever,” I said, grabbing their attention. “That’s what freaked me out, I couldn’t figure out what was happening and I hadn’t been prepared for it. I was just thinking about you, wondering if you were okay, and then suddenly – I don’t know, it was like I was… looking _through_ your eyes? I guess that’s the best way to explain it.”

“But how?” Derek asked.

“Let me try again, one sec,” I told him. I closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath. I thought about Derek again, thought about seeing what he could see and my eyes flew open – only I wasn’t seeing through my eyes. I was looking at myself from the right side of me. It was strange, possibly one of the strangest things to ever happen to me.

And I was part wolf.

I pulled myself back somehow, and turned to look directly at Derek.

“Okay, think about me and seeing what I’m seeing. Close your eyes if it helps. I just kinda wished I could see what you could see and it… I don’t know, it just happened,” I explained as best as I could. Derek nodded and took a deep breath. He didn’t close his eyes, so I could see exactly when it happened.

His eyes flared blue. I was almost surprised when I didn’t feel anything different.

He blinked and his eyes were back to human, though they widened slightly in shock.

“Wow, that was bizarre,” he whispered.

“You guys might want to see if you can do that without your eyes glowing, it’s a little obvious,” Scott told us.

“Does it happen to both of us? Or just whoever’s doing it?” I asked, turning back to Scott.

“Just whoever does it. So I mean, if you can’t stop the glowing you’ll just have to make sure nobody can see your eyes,” he smirked. “Maybe you just need to practice it more?”

“Maybe,” Derek agreed. He was absentmindedly rubbing the spot over his chest where the fox must have moved back to. I smiled to myself, glad to see that he had a new way to comfort himself, some way that we could always be with each other.

“Thanks for getting me out of there pal,” I said to Scott, giving him a smile. He smiled back, not needing to say anything else. What were friends for if not to usher you out of class when you were having a werewolf-induced panic attack, right?

“You guys should get back to class, it’s about to end and you need to grab your stuff,” Derek told us, though I could see he really didn’t want us to go. I didn’t like being away from him either, I liked when all of us were together, I felt complete.

I sighed. “Yeah, we really should.”

“At least there isn’t any practice tonight,” Scott said, ever the optimist. “So as soon as school is done, we can all go to your house.”

“Yes we can, Scotty,” I smiled at him. Derek smiled, too, happy at the thought of us all being together in a few hours.

“Are you meeting us here after school, or are you just hanging out at my place today?”

“I’ll probably come meet you at your Jeep, I have to get some clothes and stuff today anyways, I’ve pretty much run out of your clothes that fit me,” Derek joked, pulling me in for a hug and nuzzling into my neck.

I kissed his temple, breathing him in. “Do you want my Jeep? Then you can just come pick us up after school.”  
“Yeah, that would be easier,” he told me. “Thank you.”

He pulled away, pulling Scott in for a brief hug, silently thanking him for pulling me out of class, I thought. Scott happily returned the hug. When Derek was done hugging Scott, I tossed him my keys.

Scott and I walked to the school. Just before we were at the doors I said, “Also do no hurt my baby or I will hurt you, Hale.” I heard Derek chuckle and agree he won’t hurt the Jeep before he drove away. I smiled a bit.

When Scott and I walked back into the classroom everyone, including the teacher, turned to look at us. I grinned sheepishly and apologized for the disruption, both of us hurrying back to our seats. I looked at the clock to see there were only five minutes left of class.

Thank god, I was starving. Panic attacks always took a lot out of me.

As the bell was ringing and we were packing our bags I heard the teacher telling Scott and I to stay behind. We finished packing our stuff and walked over to her desk.

“I’m really sorry, Ms. Flemming. I didn’t mean to disrupt the class,” I told her.

“Is everything alright, Mr. Stilinski?” The math teacher asked me, seeming concerned.

“Yeah, I just had a panic attack. I haven’t had one in a while, but they’re generally triggered when something upsetting happens in my life,” I explained.

“Has something happened recently that caused the panic attack?”

“Yes, the person they found in the woods last week was identified last night. She was a friend, and I’m dating her brother. But, I promise, I’ll do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” I assured her.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Stiles. I’m more concerned about you, so should you need anything feel free to talk to me, or the guidance counsellor is always willing to speak to students,” she told me, touching my arm briefly. I smiled my thanks and Scott and I left for lunch.

“Are you sure you’re okay Stiles?” Scott asked, nudging me with his shoulder. “I know you’re trying to control all your emotions, especially today, so that you can be calm and that will keep Derek and I calm, but you know you can talk to us, right? We just want you to be okay, as much as you want the same for us.”

“Thank you Scotty, I really think I am okay,” I assured him, nudging him back with my elbow. “I’m mostly worried about tonight, this being your first full moon, and I know Derek generally has good control but I know that emotional overload is really unhelpful with control and I’m just worried that–”

I stopped talking and walking once I opened the door and saw everyone turn towards Scott and I, the noise level in the cafeteria going nearly silent.

“Well, I guess they heard about my panic attack,” I said to Scott quietly. I walked over to the food line to grab lunch, Scott following. He started babbling about what we were going to be doing tonight, watching movies, eating snacks, and so on. We both knew that wasn’t all that would be happening but we were keeping up the ruse. I was grateful for his babbling. I was listening to the conversations that had started back up.

“ _... yeah I heard it was a panic attack._ ”

“ _… dating Derek Hale..._ ”

“ _… Laura Hale…_ ”

Okay, nobody seemed to see my eyes or me outside with a moving tattoo or anything. I released the breath I was holding, relieved. It was just gossip that I had expected.

“Stiles! Scott!” I heard someone calling to us, turning to see Allison waving to us from a table with Lydia and _ugh_ Jackson. Danny was at least smiling in a friendly way.

Scott and I walked over, Scott practically sprinting to sit across from Allison. That left me sitting across from Lydia and beside Danny.

“Hey Stiles,” Danny greeted me, smiling.

“Hey Danny,” I replied, giving him a smile of my own.

“So Stilinski,” Jackson started. I turned towards him, putting a hand on Scott’s arm to warn him to keep calm.

“Jackson, how are you today?” I asked, not really expecting any pleasantries. He didn’t disappoint.

“So, I never got an answer the other day. What is anyone doing dating you? Is there something wrong with him? Did his sister dying affect his brain?”

Honestly, Jackson insulting was nothing, it was something I was well-accustomed with. But to bring Laura into this was a whole new low that I would not tolerate.

“Shut your mouth, Jackson,” I said quietly. I sounded very calm, probably far too calm. Jackson looked haughty as usual, but I could smell the discomfort that my reaction caused.

Jackson had opened his mouth to say something else, but I wasn’t going to give him the opportunity to saying anything else against Derek. Or Laura.

“Jackson, **shut your mouth** ,” I said, still at a normal volume, but my growl was bleeding through a little. I took a deep breath to control myself. “You can say whatever you want about me, I don’t give a fuck, but the second you bring my boyfriend and his family into it, especially his sister, whom I loved very much, I will beat the living shit out of you.”

I turned back to Scott and Allison, ignoring the shock that was radiating off of everyone else at the table. Even Jackson was speechless.

“Are you okay?” Allison mouthed to me. She may not know me well, but I’m guessing it’s very obvious that I don’t generally retaliate when I’m bullied. I nodded to her, smiling a bit.

“What the actual _fuck_ is wrong with you Jackson?” Lydia shrieked, causing me to flail a little. I wasn’t usually startled, but I had never heard Lydia get mad at Jackson about bullying anyone. The look on Jackson’s face suggested the same. It was priceless – he looked absolutely floored by everything.

“Wh-what?” He questioned. Oh, this was going to be good.

“Making fun of Stiles is one thing, but to bring Derek’s recently deceased sister into it? That’s disgusting,” she berated him. I didn’t necessarily appreciate the dismissal of the mocking of me, but the rest of the argument was pretty spot on.

“Also,” Danny cut in, surprising both Jackson and I, as well as everyone else, “what exactly is wrong with Stiles?”

I knew there was a reason I always liked Danny.

Before Jackson even had time to compose himself enough to answer Allison was standing up.

“Come on, let’s go sit somewhere else,” she says to Scott and I. She’s already eaten most of her lunch so she slides her apple and yogurt onto Scott’s tray and holds her hand out grab his. He scrambles up, grabs his tray and Allison’s hand and she pulls him to a table with only one kid sitting at it, smiling at him. I followed them and sat down beside the other kid, across from Scott and Allison.

“Hey, you’re Isaac, right?” I ask him. He nods quietly, shocked that we sat with him. “Is it alright if we sit with you?”

“Y-yeah, of course,” he stammers. I smile at him. He’s in a few of my classes and on the lacrosse team, but he’s really shy and is always on the bench, like me.

“Hey Isaac,” Scott greets him, giving him his crooked puppy dog smile. Isaac blushes a little and stammers a ‘hello’ to Scott.

I’m shocked when Danny sits beside Scott, Lydia beside me. They left Jackson sitting alone at his table. He looks like he was punched in the face, he’s so shocked. I can’t help but laugh.

“Well, now that _that’s_ over. Stiles, Scott, because you missed some of the math class, do you want to borrow my notes?” Lydia asked us, as though this was completely normal.

“Uh, sure, yeah, that would be great,” I replied, staring at her like she had two heads.

What was happening today?

“Lydia, are you okay?” Danny asked, sounding concerned.

Lydia turned to Danny, “Of course I am.” She smiled at him, squeezed his hand for a moment, and then turned to Allison.

“Allison, do you want to study tonight?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. You don’t want to go to the party with Jackson?” Allison asked, sounding confused.

“No, Jackson and I just broke up,” Lydia answered. She sounded as though she couldn’t care less but I could hear her heart racing and smell how upset she truly was. I also knew that she didn’t want to talk about it here.

“Yeah, of course we can study tonight. I need help with some of the math work anyways, so it would be really helpful,” Allison told her, obviously aware of the situation as well.

I gave Lydia my extra pudding, because I knew she liked them and I wanted to thank her for defending Derek and Laura. She smiled at me, and I knew she understood.

Danny started talking to Scott and Isaac and me about lacrosse, while Allison and Lydia talked about going shopping this weekend. I texted Derek to check in on him and we were all much more cheerful by the end of lunch, with Isaac even becoming a little more animated. Lydia was still upset, but she hid it well.

We all had history after lunch, so we walked together to Mr. Westover’s classroom. Isaac still talking animatedly to Danny about lacrosse, Allison and Scott planning their date next weekend, and Lydia and I walked together. I slowed a bit so we would be far enough behind everyone that they couldn’t hear us.

“Lydia, you don’t have to talk to me about it. I know we aren’t friends, and you don’t really like me or anything, but just know that you can. And I really do appreciate you standing up for Derek,” I told her quietly.

“Stiles, don’t be ridiculous, I like you. And Derek seems like a nice guy, so it was no trouble. Besides, Jackson and I breaking up was inevitable. I’m tired of pretending to be something I’m not,” she told me, her head high and a look of indifference on her face. I admired her.

“You mean you hated pretending not to be a genius?” I asked her, smirking and nudging her with my elbow.

She whipped her head around, “Don’t mock me Stiles.”

“I’m not mocking you Lydia, I’m probably one of the only people here that knows just how smart you are.” That was true, mostly everyone else believed Lydia’s act of idiocy, she was very good at it.

She looked at me, really looked at me for the first time, possibly ever.

“You’re a strange guy, but you are also brilliant. Though not quite as brilliant as me,” she told me. I laughed, glad that she wasn’t going to lie about herself now. She really was brilliant. I saw her genuinely smiling as we walked into class.

I sat at an empty table between Scott and Allison and Isaac and Danny, and Lydia sat beside me. She opened her text book and her notes on the readings which were very in depth, with additional research. I smirked, which she caught, making her smile wider.

When Jackson walked in and saw all six of us together, looking happy, he lowered his eyes and hurried to an empty seat in the back. To distract Lydia for the five minutes before class started I talked to her about the readings, and it seemed to work.

The rest of the day was uneventful, and the closer to the end of the day the jumpier I got. Finally, the last bell rang and we rushed to our lockers after saying goodbye to the others. When we got out of the school I looked over to where I had heard Derek park the Jeep.

There he was, leaning against the door and smiling at me. I smiled back, and I knew Scott was excited to see Derek, too. We rushed over to him, and I kissed him as soon as I reached him. He kissed me back just as enthusiastically, but the kiss was brief because Scotty was shouting at us.

“Come on guys, I want to get _home_ , you can make out all you want there when I have snacks and movies.” Derek smiled against my mouth, kissing me one last time before pulling away.

“Kids,” he said fondly, shaking his head and running a hand over my hair.

“Hey, I’m the same age as Scotty!” I said indignantly. Derek raised an eyebrow at me. “Okay, kinda,” I conceded, smiling as well.

“Kinda!?” Scott asked as Derek and I got in the car.

“Relax Scott, we were born the in the same year,” I told him as I started the car, smirking. “Born wolves just age differently than humans and bitten wolves, that’s all,” I explained. He seemed mollified by that.

“Do you think you’ll be okay tonight? Because I can handle Scott if you’re in control, but I can figure something out if you think you’re going to–”

“Stiles, I’ll be fine, I promise,” he interrupted me, putting a hand on the back of my neck.

I smiled, believing him. I didn’t really doubt him, but I did have to check to make sure I was prepared for tonight.

“Are you ready for tonight? Any questions?” Derek asked Scott, twisting in his seat to look at him.

“Uhm, well… what exactly is going to happen? Is it going to be like the other day after lacrosse when I lost it on Jackson?” He asked, sounding nervous. I tried to smell as comforting as I could and Derek had the same instinct. I saw Scott calm down and seem more at ease, most likely subconsciously.

“Yeah, a lot like that, but there’s on difference tonight. You’re prepared, Stiles and I are prepared, and we can help you,” Derek explained. I was so proud of him, he had opened up to Scott and this pack so well, and I knew how difficult that would have been for him.

“So, what we should try and do now, while you’re still in control, is figure out if you have an anchor,” I suggested, pulling into my driveway. “Let’s go inside and then I can explain,” I told him. We all grabbed our stuff and made our way inside.

“Alright,” I started once I had grabbed us all drinks and snacks and we were comfortable in the living room. “An Anchor is something that connects you to your humanity, to remind you about the human half of you when the wolf is trying to take over.”

“Sometimes it can be people, other times it’s memories or feelings. Just anything that reminds you and keeps you human,” Derek told him. “Anchors can change, too. Mine was anger until Stiles and I realized we were Mates. Now, it’s Stiles.”

“Mine is Derek, and not just him, but what he means. The love he gives me, the Pack he helped me get back,” I told Scott, hoping maybe that would help.

I knew that Scott’s Anchor was Allison and every possibility she presented to Scott, that was clear the first time he shifted and I asked him about her to calm him down, to help him shift back. But I wanted him to figure it out on his own, it meant more that way.

“Okay, so it’s basically just whatever I would think of if I was really upset and needed to calm down?” He asked. I nodded, smiling. That was oversimplified, but it was the general idea.

“Allison.”

“Exactly,” I responded, proud of Scott for coming to that realization quickly.

“So, later when you start to feel out of control we’re going to talk to you about Allison and other stuff. But we’re going to wait until we really need to talk about it,” Derek told Scott.

“And I’m sorry Scotty, but we’re going to need to chain you up downstairs, as a precaution. So I need you to tell me when you start to feel out of control, overly agitated, anything,” I warned him.

“Yeah, of course, I want this to go as well as possible. Anything to make that possible I am down for,” he agreed, grinning. I could smell how nervous he was but I could tell he would do just fine. At least he knew what was happening to him.

“Good. So, was the rest of your day good? Did anything happen?” Derek asked us. Scott and I looked at each other and started grinning like crazy, thinking about everything that happened at lunch. “What?” Derek asked suspiciously.

“Okay, so I’m assuming you remember Jackson?” I asked Derek. His eyes flashed blue and a low growl escaped his throat. “Okay, yes, you do. So, he was being his usual asshole self and questioning your mental state with your decision to date me–”

“I swear, I’m going to beat that kid–”

“Let me finish! Anyways, I was going to ignore him, like usual, but then he said you weren’t thinking straight because of Laura – Derek, please sit down! You told me you would stay calm for me tonight.” Derek had gotten up and half-shifted, looking ready to find and kill Jackson.

“I’m going to kill him, who does he think he is?” Derek was shouting, well, roaring was more accurate.

“Derek!” I heard Scott yell, surprising me. Derek turned and stared at Scott, his eyes wide and his chest heaving due to the panting. “Do you really think Stiles and I would just let him get away with that? You think we would be happy to tell you this if we didn’t think he got what he deserved?”

“…no,” Derek admitted, calming down a little. He looked at me then, trying to calm down.

“Let me finish Der,” I pleaded. When he had sat down, I continued.

“Okay, so I told him to shut up–”

“Dude, it was badass, he threatened to beat the shit out of him. It was awesome!”

“Thank you Scotty. Anyways, Jackson was about to say something until Lydia called him out for bringing Laura into it, and Danny stood up for me, and then Allison and Scott and I left and sat with Isaac, and then Danny and Lydia came over after a few minutes and _Lydia broke up with Jackson_. We all hung out and actually had a good time after that. It was awesome,” I sighed happily and leaned against the couch, smiling at the memory.

Derek smiled, probably because I was so happy about it. “I’m proud of you for standing up to him, and thank you,” he told me, pulling me towards him to kiss him quickly. I smiled at him, keeping my hand on his cheek and feeling the beard growing in. He hadn’t shaved at all since he had moved in and I was really liking the beard.

“I’m proud of you too man! Jackson has been an ass to you for years and I don’t understand why you haven’t kicked his ass yet for everything he’s done! You could really easily, and he definitely deserves it,” Scott told me, getting a little worked up.

“Scotty, calm down. And I haven’t kicked his ass because I’ve always been worried that I wouldn’t be able to stop myself and would kill him or I would wolf out,” I explained calmly to him. Derek knew that there were other reasons but he didn’t say anything and so neither did I. No point talking about it when it would just get everyone agitated.

“I know, I know,” he sighed, trying to calm himself down.

“Do you guys want to come to the kitchen and help me with dinner? Full moon means huge appetites so I always make a lot,” I suggested. I needed to keep Scott distracted for as long as possible.

We went to the kitchen and started on dinner. Well, I actually started on dinner and Derek ended up helping Scott with his English homework. Scott was pretty surprised when Derek had ended up talking to us about the English degree he had been working towards, as well as the job Derek had had at a library in New York. I wasn’t surprised, more impressed. Most of what I remembered about high school Derek was that he was a bit of a meat head – kind of a dumb jock. Not _dumb_ , just… more of a jock stereotype.

“Alright so, the pigs are taking advantage of the other animals to benefit themselves,” Scott muttered as he made notes.

“Yes, and this reflects the disadvantages of the working class, in how they are getting less than those in power,” Derek explained. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face, and I could feel the happiness and calm radiating off of Derek, the relief from Scott – Animal Farm had been confusing him since we started reading it a few days earlier.

I was just finishing with the potatoes when I heard my dad’s car door slam in the driveway. He always made sure he was home early on full moons.

“Okay guys, clean off the table. Dinner is just about ready and Dad is home,” I told them.

“Stiles, your boyfriend is a genius,” Scott told me as he ran out of the kitchen to bring his stuff up to my room.

“Yes he is,” I agreed, smiling. Derek came up behind me and I turned in his arms to kiss him. “Thank you for helping him,” I added.

“Anytime,” he replied, smiling back at me. “Do you need any help? Sorry, I should have been helping earlier,” he apologized sheepishly.

“No, I was fine. I was glad you helped him actually, I hadn’t been able to–it’s been a hectic week and I knew he was having some trouble.” I kissed him again, wrapping my arms around his waist and pulling him closer.

“Alright, in my kitchen? Over my food?” I heard my dad mutter in the doorway. He knew we could hear him, and I could tell that he wasn’t that upset. I still pretended to be a little embarrassed.

“Sorry Dad,” I said, blushing slightly.

“No you aren’t,” he chuckled. I grinned at him. “Scott upstairs?”

Scott answered his question by running down the stairs louder than I thought possible.

“Hey Sheriff! How’s it going?” Scott greeted my dad, a big smile on his face that made him look so like a puppy. Now the look was really accurate.

“Hey Scott, it’s alright. How are you?” Dad asked, eyeing me a little nervously. Scott didn’t notice anything, still jumpy and excited for food.

“Good! I feel full of energy! But I’m good!” He was practically vibrating.

“That’s good,” Dad replied, still looking nervous about Scott wolfing out and tearing apart the kitchen. I knew he would be fine, though. I believed in us.

“Hey Scotty, do you want to help Derek bring everything to the table?” I asked him, keeping my voice even and calm, hoping it would help Scotty. It seemed to, because he nodded and calmed a little, helping Derek like I asked him to.

I smiled at them proudly as I rinsed off all the dishes I had used to make dinner. Dad would end up washing them when I was downstairs with Scott and Derek. _My pack_. It still made me happy, the thought of finally not being alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that this took so long guys! After exams I think my brain shut down and I had a really hard time getting into the flow of writing again. But I hope this is okay! I'm starting a new job tomorrow as well so hopefully I won't be too busy to keep writing this.  
> Let me know what you think and I will hopefully be getting the next chapter out soon!


	7. Shifting

After dinner, I thanked dad for doing the dishes, promised to try and not wreck anything in the basement (not that there was anything valuable), and brought Derek and Scott down stairs.

“I’ve never been down here, I thought I thought it was just storage and junk…” Scott trailed off as he looked around the basement. Or the Torture Dungeon as I had named it.

I mean, that’s not what it was ever used for, but there were chains and manacles hanging off the walls making it look like we had definitely killed and tortured at least a few people.

“Yeah, this is why you’ve never been down here,” I replied, somewhat nervous about his reaction.

“These are bolted in really well, and taken care of. I’m impressed,” Derek told me, examining some of the chains closest to him.

“You don’t think I’m some weird serial killer in my free time?” I asked him, a little surprised. I was expecting a reaction similar to Scott’s–who still seemed like he was trying to grasp what he was seeing.

“Stiles, you don’t think my family had a Full Moon room?”

“Well, I just figured that you didn’t need one because you had the reserve… but I guess you still couldn’t have out of control wolves running around in the open,” I admitted.

“Is it sound proofed?” Derek asked, looking around like he was checking the room for any weaknesses.

“Yeah, we had to make sure neighbours wouldn’t hear us. We check it every few years, keep everything cleaned up and in good shape, replace anything when it gets damaged. I haven’t had to use this that many times since about a year after my mom died, but there were always…” I trailed off when I realized something.

“When was the Fire?” I asked Derek. “Like the date, I know the year.”

“End of November, why?”

“Holy shit, _holy shit_ , that makes so much sense!”

“Wait, you guys used to chain yourselves up on full moons? In a basement? Does that even work?” Scott asked, finally putting everything together. I barely even registered that he was talking because I was having a revelation.

“Stiles, what is happening?” Derek asked, starting to sound a little stressed. That snapped me out of it.

I took a deep breath before letting everything out in a rush, “I used to have troubles on full moons around the beginning of June and the end of November. I understood why I had a harder time in June–”

“Your mom,” Scott whispered. It had almost become taboo, kinda like his dad, talking about her. Which really helped at first, but kinda sucked now. Whatever, that was a problem for a later date.

“–but I never understood why November. It didn’t make sense! But now, it’s like I was mourning with you! I mean you guys were family, that was for sure, but mom died a year after the Fire… and I was just overwhelmed with the grief from that…” I finished apologetically, realizing I sounded like an ass.

“Stiles I get it, there’s no reason for you to feel bad. You didn’t just lose your mother, you lost your Alpha, your pack, everything. I still had Laura, at least,” Derek reminded me. He hugged me tight, and I realized he was also letting me know that he had felt the same thing around the time my mother died. He probably just couldn’t say it.

“Thanks,” I whispered against his chest. “Okay, so,” I changed the subject, clapping my hands together and turning to Scott. “Scotty. We are going to have to chain you up, as a precaution. I know you may feel fine now, which is already impressive, but eventually you are going to be hit with the full moon like someone decked you. We’ll stay here with you all night, watch movies, talk, whatever you need.”

He nodded, swallowing audibly. He walked over to the chains in the middle of the big wall and faced me. I smiled at him in what I hoped was a reassuring expression. It must have worked a little because he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded again. This time I could see he was less panicked about the constraints.

“Okay, Derek, in that room over there is a TV. It’s pretty old but it still works and we can watch movies and stuff if we want. I have snacks. We should be good to go!” I said, mostly thinking aloud but it was also meant to help keep Scott as calm as possible. A lot of people thought my constant babble was annoying but it was usually meant as a distraction, for other people in bad situations or to deflect attention from things I didn’t want to talk about.

Derek carried the TV into the room and set it down on the table in front of Scott. I thanked him and grabbed my Full Moon approved DVDs–there were movies and shows in here, none of them stressful to any degree.

“So Scott, what do you want to do? Talk, watch TV, nap,” Derek asked. I laughed quietly at the nap suggestion.

“We can watch some movies first. I’m not really feeling all that wolfy yet and I’m going to need you guys to talk me through that,” Scott told us. Sometimes Scott was much more logical than I thought possible. I was starting to realize that I underestimated Scott quite a bit.

I loved Scott, he was my best friend, my brother, and now he was pack. He was always funny and kind to everyone and naïve and sometimes a little too trusting. I was the one that was sarcastic and witty, logical and critical. We balanced each other nicely, because where we were different it was complimentary, and where we were similar it was comfortable.

But maybe he wasn’t quite as naïve as I thought, or as dense as everyone thought he was–including me. I was starting to believe it was that he wanted everything to be positive, and so he acted in a way that might make that more possible. He made tense situations less tense, and joked around to make everyone laugh, even at his expense. I knew he was smart, I just didn’t realize the extent of his intelligence.

I had underestimated him. I felt ashamed of myself.

“Scott, I’m so sorry,” I told him. He looked confused, so I elaborated. “I’m sorry that I’ve underestimated you so much, and I’m sorry it took me this long to realize just how smart you are.”

“What do you mean?” Scott asked, still extremely confused. I knew it wasn’t anything he had noticed, but I still wanted to let him know how much I realized he was capable of.

“I’ve always thought you were just… I don’t know, not slow, but not as smart as you actually are. You’re very smart, I know that, but I just didn’t realize that you were as logical as you were. I just underestimate you, that’s all. You make decisions in a more informed way than I thought you did,” I blabbered.  I took a deep breath, stopping the words that were falling out of my mouth.

Scott didn’t look offended, but I had never expected him to. He knew how people perceived him, used it to his advantage sometimes.

“Stiles I know, it’s fine. I’ve never been offended about people thinking I’m stupid, I know it’s just because I’m not traditionally smart. I’ve accepted it. But I know _you_ don’t think I’m stupid,” Scott assured me, giving me his puppy smile.

“Really Stiles? Disney movies?” I heard Derek ask me incredulously. I turned to him, grinning.

“What, are you telling me that Disney movies get your pulse racing? Is there something we need to talk about, sweetheart?” I joked, shoving him a little. He laughed.

“Can we watch Tangled?” Scott asked excitedly, seeing the stack of movies on the table.

I nodded, putting the DVD into the player and sitting, pulling Derek down to sit beside me on the old couch. We had moved it beside Scott so that he wouldn’t feel as alone, and so I could throw snacks into his mouth.

* * *

After four movies (Wall-E, Cars, and, though it wasn’t a Disney movie, The Breakfast Club), I got up to go to the bathroom and replenish our snack and drink supply, and also to make sure my dad didn’t need anything.

I found my dad sprawled out on the couch, snoring. I thought about waking him, but I knew he’d had a long day. Looking at the clock, I realized it was 3 am. I picked him up and draped him over my shoulder and heard him grumbling.

“Stiles, I’m fine, I was just resting my eyes,” he protested. But he was still half-asleep and couldn’t put up too much of a fight, nor do I think he really wanted to. He was too tired to drag himself upstairs, and he knew how uncomfortable it was to sleep on the couch all night.

After I put my dad in his bed, he mumbled a very sleepy ‘thank you son’ and fell back to sleep. I smiled and left the room. Once I was done and had everything I needed I went back downstairs.

When I opened the door I heard Scott growling quietly, but it sounded more like he was snoring–each growl came on an exhale. He was controlling himself. I was about to rush downstairs, until I heard Derek talking to Scott, trying to keep him calm, human. I decided to stay at the top of the stairs and wait. It might agitate Scott more if I showed up. And, honestly, I was curious to see how Derek and Scott handled this.

“Scott, it’s okay, you’re doing really well,” I heard Derek. “Let’s talk about Allison, okay?” He paused, and must have either gotten a nonverbal answer from Scott, or realized he wasn’t going to get one. “Did you ever reschedule the date that you were supposed to have today?”

“Ye-yeah, we did. We were talking about it– _ugh_ –at lunch today,” Scott told him. I could hear the strain that Scott was exerting to control himself: he was breathing heavily, grunting, growling. My wolf was fighting to protect my mate and help my Beta, but I was making myself stay. I knew Derek was fine and had everything under control. He knew I was here and he would call me down if he needed me.

“Okay good! That’s really good, so what are you thinking about doing?”

Scott was panting now, I could feel his control slipping even more, which was to be expected. I hadn’t honestly expected him to be able to hold it off for this long, so I was impressed. The Allison thing must have been working.

“We’re– _fuck this is really hard_ –we’re going to an arcade,” Scott cut off with a howl. I figured that was my cue to go down and help. He had pretty much lost control and I couldn’t make anything worse.

I ran down the stairs, my arms clutching the snacks and drinks. I set them down on the table beside the TV and turned around to face Scott and Derek. Derek was fine, calm as usual. Scott was completely wolfed out and trying to claw at Derek and I, or trying to escape, or just losing his mind a little bit.

I smelled the air. Fear. Anxiety. Scott was scared of this, he was scared of what he was capable of.

“Scotty, it’s alright, you’re okay,” I told him. “You don’t need to be scared of this, you won’t hurt anyone.”

I heard his heartrate slow, barely, but it was something. He was still panicking, though.

“Scott, you can’t be scared of the wolf, you have to let it in. You’ll feel better if you stop fighting it and let it become a part of you,” I told him. “Let the wolf and the human parts of you get used to each other.”

I had no idea if I was getting through to him, but I think just me talking was maybe bringing him back a little more. Maybe it reminded him of his human side. I could work with that. Get more human.

“So, did you notice Isaac today?” I didn’t wait for an answer but I noticed that I had his attention. “I still think there’s something going on with him that we don’t know about, maybe with his dad?” I thought aloud, mostly trying to distract Scott.

He whined sadly–Scott didn’t like the thought of anyone being hurt or upset. His empathy was reminding him of being human, though.

“But, I think he and Danny were hitting it off, so maybe that’ll be–” My thought was cut off by a very angry and possessive growl. Interesting. Okay, steer clear of the idea that Isaac and Danny might be a thing.

Maybe bring that up to him another time.

The reasons behind these reactions weren’t important right now, they also most likely weren’t conscious reactions. Which was common when the animal side comes out. Embarrassment and judgement wasn’t as big of an issue when you were a wolf, everything was much simpler.

“Okay, maybe we should spend more time with Isaac, get to know him better,” I suggested. Scott purred happily at that. I was okay with that, Isaac was nice, and if I could help him with whatever was happening…

“Who is Isaac?” Derek asked. I was about to answer when he held up a hand to stop me. “Scott, who is Isaac?” I shut my mouth and backed up so Derek was in front of me slightly. He had dealt with wolves a little more than I had, he honestly probably had a better idea what he was doing.

“Isaac…” Scott growled slightly, but he sounded happy.

“Yeah Scott, Isaac, tell me about him. I don’t know him,” Derek prodded.

“Isaac… pretty… so sad… want to… protect…” Scott grumbled happily, thinking about Isaac. This was probably what I would look like if I was wolfed out and talking about Derek. _Oh_. Yeah I definitely needed to talk to Scott about this at another time.

“So, you want us to spend more time with Isaac? Try and help him? Maybe we can make him less sad. Would you like that Scotty? Do you want to see Isaac happier?” I asked him, hoping to make _him_ happier. If I couldn’t get him to stop wolfing out, I could make him a happier wolf.

He smiled, eyes glowing slightly brighter for a moment. I heard a rumble in his chest, a rumble similar to the one’s that Derek made when he woke up, all wolfy and blissed out.

“Scotty, we can do that. But do you think you can come back a little? So we can talk more?” I asked calmly, hoping to coax him back to reality. At least enough for him to be aware of what was happening with him.

Slowly I saw him coming back. Not completely, but after an hour of us talking to him softly and praising him he was in the Beta shift. Progress.

“Stiles? What the hell was that?” Scott asked me, a little panicked but seemingly in control.

“That, Scotty, was your first Full Moon moment,” I told him, smiling because he had gotten through it with minimal damage to everyone and everything.

“ _NO_ Stiles, I mean, _what the fuck was that stuff about Isaac_?” He asked more forcefully.

“Oh, uh… well, maybe now isn’t the best time to talk about–”

“Your wolf recognizes Isaac as his mate,” Derek said bluntly beside me.

“That,” I agreed, pointing at Derek. I was really hoping this wasn’t going to make him panic again.

Scott, surprisingly, didn’t panic or wolf out again. In fact, he froze completely. Derek and I did as well, not wanting to agitate him or make anything worse. If we could stay calm, maybe Scott could as well.

He didn’t seem panicked though, just confused. I mean, I couldn’t blame him, I was confused, too. I thought he was in love with Allison, but I don’t know. Maybe he had a crush on Allison, but that was all it was. An attraction. I mean, I had liked people before Derek had come back.

But Scott had never shown any interest in guys. But maybe he was just going with societal norms, or maybe he wasn’t strictly gay. Maybe he just hadn’t ever told me if he liked guys. Or there hadn’t been any guys he was particularly interested in. I mean, it had taken me a while to realize all the guys I had had crushes on.

Scott, though I had gotten over that one. Danny. Jackson–he was an asshole but I wasn’t blind. There were other crushes, but none that were more than just acknowledging the fact that people were attractive, nothing of more substance.

Maybe he was only gay for one person. Or maybe he didn’t know what he was. I mean, there’s an entire spectrum and Scott isn’t really one to give a shit about labels. He just did what he did, liked who he liked, no worries about anyone else. It was one of the reasons we were such good friends.

“ _Oh_ ,” Scott breathed out finally. The thing is, he didn’t seem upset about it, he just seemed… like now he understands something. Huh, maybe he had been thinking about this more than I realized. Maybe I had been too self-absorbed recently.

“You’re not… upset?” I hedged.

“No, not at all, everything makes more sense now,” Scott replied. He sounded breathless, relieved.

“What makes sense?” Derek asked. I think we both realized that he was calm now, less anxious. If he kept talking, we would just have a little bit of time before the moon was gone and we could get him off the wall. It was almost five am now and I could feel the pull of the moon dissipating.

“Why I always feel so protective around him, and want to cheer him up all the time. I always want everyone to be happy but with Isaac… It’s almost like I feel a physical ache to see him sad or hurt. I just thought it was because he just seemed to be so much worse off than everyone else,” Scott whispered. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to us or himself.

“Okay, that makes sense,” I told him quietly. It really did make sense, I wasn’t just saying that to appease him. But he grinned at me and I could tell having these feelings make sense for him was a huge relief for him. That was understandable, I’m sure this was really confusing for Scott,. I mean, it was confusing when I had been trying to figure the whole gay thing out. That was pretty cut and dry, this was a little more complicated.

“Does it?” Scott asked me, sounding more than a little hysterical. He was looking between Derek and I, we both looked quite calm. Mates weren’t surprises to us, we had grown up hearing about them, _dreaming_ about them. It was the one thing that everyone looked forward to when they were growing up. It was always said that it was rare, but maybe it wasn’t quite so rare.

Or maybe it was just because Beacon Hills was a literal beacon and made it less rare in this town. Things were always slightly more magical here, the unbelievable was always more believable, even in our world.

“Is this normal? Does this happen a lot? Stiles, what the hell man, where did this come from? Not that I haven’t always liked Isaac, but I just… I don’t understand, it’s never been like this,” he told me. He started off sounding manic but finished in a whisper.

“Scott, this is normal.” Derek assured Scott. “Actually, this is something that Stiles and I have been dreaming about since we were little kids. We grew up on stories of people finding their mates, of hoping one day we would all be lucky enough to do the same.”

“Yeah Scotty, this was one of our fairy tales–our Cinderella story was about two mates who had found each other,” I supported.  “Born werewolves have never really been overly concerned with sexuality, not amongst themselves, and certainly not with mates. I mean, come on, we’re _werewolves_. Who we do or don’t sleep with is the least of our concerns.”

Scott laughed weakly, but it was definitely a laugh.

We sat quietly for a while, I don’t know how long, the drinks and snacks forgotten on the table behind Derek and I. When I saw Scott starting to fall asleep, Derek and I unchained him and brought some cushions and blankets to where he was sitting on the floor. We curled up around him and he fell asleep easily, quickly followed by Derek. Scott was exhausted and fell asleep with his mouth hanging open and drool all over the pillow. Derek, pressed up to his left side with an arm thrown over Scott’s chest, was purring happily.

I was in that floaty space between awake and asleep, perfectly pleased to just be here with my pack. I could have lay here forever.

But then I heard the door to the basement opening and tensed for a moment waiting for a threat to attack us, getting ready to protect my mate and my Beta. It only took a moment of doubt and panic for the scent to hit Derek and wake up snarling.

“Hey baby, it’s okay, it’s just my Dad,” I told Derek quietly. “Der, I need you to calm down please, you’re panicking Scotty.”

Scott was underneath us, on his back with his eyes wide and a little scared about the snarly, grumpy wolf hovering over him. Derek looked at my dad, then me, then Scott. I’m not sure which of us did it but the fangs disappeared with the snarls and he whined apologetically.

“It’s alright guys, everything is okay,” I reassured them. I put my hand on Derek’s cheek and poked Scott’s nose, making them both smile. After I got up and gave them some snacks and drinks, I took my dad upstairs to give the boys some time to wake up.

“Hey son, how was the Full Moon?” Dad asked, handing me a coffee and drinking his own.

“Thanks dad, this coffee is fantastic. It was good, way better than I thought it would be. Scott freaked out a little around 3 or 4, when I was coming back from putting you to bed but it was nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“Okay, that’s good. What are we making for breakfast?” He asked, pulling everything breakfast related out of the fridge–eggs, bread, bacon, pancake mix, fruit.

“I’ll ask Derek and Scott what they want.” I ran back downstairs to them sitting groggily and still half-asleep. Both of them took so long to wake up, it was adorable.

“Okay boys, what do we want for breakfast? Pancakes? French toast? Everything?” Neither of them had any verbal response, but I smelt their eagerness for the everything option. “Okay then, upstairs for some coffee,” I told them. They both got up way faster than they should have considering they weren’t fully awake.

Coffee would do that to you, I guess.

I laughed when Derek picked me up and ran me up the stairs. Scott was already sitting upstairs, munching happily on some strawberries and chattering to my dad about lacrosse. Derek put me down and started drinking his coffee, letting me help dad make breakfast.

While we cooked, Derek answered all of Scott’s questions about mates and anchors and the rest of the Hale pack. To my surprise Derek actually opened up, especially about his family.

“There were 11 people in the fire, only my Uncle survived,” Derek was telling him. We had started eating now, a mountain of food on all of our plates, except for my dads. He had a few pancakes and some bacon. I let him cheat the day after the Full Moon, it was only fair.

“What about you and Laura? Where were you?” Scott asked quietly, momentarily forgetting to eat after hearing how many people died.

“We were at school. I had a basketball practice and Laura was at a study session with her friends, so she said she would give me a ride home. The police came to the school to find us before practice was done and they brought us to the station and told us that our family had died in a house fire, only my uncle getting out.

“I remember sitting in the station beside Laura, and her hand was the only thing I could feel. I had gone completely numb, none of it seemed real and I couldn’t understand how my whole family could be dead,” Derek whispered, but even dad could hear everything clearly. We were all barely breathing.

“Would it be alright if–could you tell me about them?” Scott asked hesitantly. “Unless you don’t want to talk about them, that’s totally cool,” he rushed on, stuffing a piece of toast in his mouth to stop himself from talking any more.

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

Derek told us a few stories about his family, especially ones with him and his siblings pulling stupid pranks or goofing around with each other. Scott and Dad and I chimed in with some stories from when Scott and I were growing up, as well.

After breakfast we all hung out in the living room, talking and watching tv. Dad always booked off the day after a Moon, so it was a good day. I had my family with me and for a few hours everything was alright.

The rest of the weekend passed uneventfully, Scott not having much trouble controlling his wolf. He had decided to see how things went on his date with Allison before making a decision about Isaac. Derek and I agreed, thinking it might be best to figure everything out in a more definite way before doing anything. If it turned out that Isaac was Scott’s mate, he didn’t want to hurt Allison because of it. And he couldn’t exactly jump into the relationship with Isaac, they had to become better friends.

Even with all the new stuff that had happened over the weekend, we felt much better that Scott had finally gone through his first Full Moon and had better control over the shift. He was still learning, but it was progress and we would help him through it. And now he wasn’t as scared of the shift, which really helped.

Dad drove Scott home Sunday morning on his way to work, and Derek and I had the house to ourselves. That sounded like it would be a good and sexy time–but after the events of the past week… We were due for a talk about everything. Everything that couldn’t be talked about in front of Scott and my father.

Sounds like fun.

I totally don’t want to do this.

So I did what I do best in situations such as these: deflect. “I’m glad you could talk about your family with us, that you’re comfortable enough,” I told him, smiling widely. I wasn’t lying, I truly was very pleased that he trusted our tiny little pack of misfits.

Derek walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. The soft smile on his face was so breathtaking I could have cried. Until–

“Stiles, you know we need to talk about it,” he said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Derek,” I answered, moving over to the counter to start filling the sink and washing the dishes. I was very good at avoiding topics I didn’t like and this certainly topped that list.

“Jackson,” was his only response before sitting at the table and simply looking at me. Well, at the back of my head. But still, I could _feel_ him staring me down.

I could have ignored that though, had been planning on it, actually. Until I looked down into the sink and noticed the wolf on my wrist laying with his head on his paws and his big, adorable puppy eyes staring at me, begging.

It was worse than Scott’s puppy eyes, and I couldn’t resist because I knew Derek really felt sad about this but didn’t want to force me into this because he was so perfect. And I knew he wouldn’t say anything, but he would probably take my silence as not trusting him enough to talk to him about this. Goddammit.

“That’s so not fair,” I sighed in defeat, running my finger over the wolf.

“Huh?” Derek asked, confused at my sudden surrender. I just turned around and showed him the wolf, who had raised his head and cocked it in confusion, but still had those huge eyes that were irresistible. The grin that slowly spread over Derek’s face as he realized that I was going to talk to him about this was just as soft as the smile from before.

This man was too perfect, what the fuck had I done to deserve him?

“Okay, let’s talk,” I said, sitting across the table from him. I wanted to reach out and touch him so badly but I couldn’t, not with what we were going to talk about here, so I kept them in front of me, gripping the edge of the table a little too hard.

“You believe the things Jackson says,” Derek started. He didn’t look angry or upset, he looked completely calm. He just seemed concerned.

 “A lot of it, yes.”

“What parts?” He placed his hands flat on the table and slid them so they were halfway across. Not reaching for me, but still letting me know he was there. It helped.

“Mostly the parts about me being useless, not good enough, especially not good enough for you. I have this fear that the only reason you’re with me is because of the mates situation. If we were just humans… you wouldn’t even notice me and that means that you’re pretty much forced into this and I don’t know if I can handle that,” I admitted. I was whispering quietly enough that he had to lean forward a little to hear me. I was ashamed to admit to these fears.

I glanced up to look at Derek and saw a smirk that I hadn’t been expecting. I had expected him to get angry, or frustrated. But he just looked… indulgent? I don’t know, I couldn’t quite place the look.

“Oh baby, you really don’t see yourself clearly at all if you think I wouldn’t be in love with you in every universe, in every lifetime,” Derek finally said after the longest thirty seconds of my life. He reached for my hands, kissing one of them. This was one of the few times I had ever become speechless–that was just so… sweet.

“You are absolutely gorgeous, one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen. And besides that, you are perfect. You’re caring, you’re strong, you’re everything I strive to be. You are not useless and you are certainly good enough. Stiles, the point of mates isn’t that we complete each other, because we are still enough as our own person, but we balance each other. We push the other person to be who they’re trying to be, and we help to work through every situation that comes up. But mostly, we just love each other unconditionally, fuck what anyone else believes.”

The next thing I knew I was over the table and on top of Derek, my mouth on his and my tears making the kiss salty and a little wet.

“I love you, I love you so much,” I sobbed, unable to control my crying at this point and just clutching at him like I wanted to crawl inside his skin and stay there, safe and loved forever.

“I love you too baby, always,” he told me quietly, letting me cry all over him. I barely even noticed it when he somehow got us off the floor and carried me to the couch to lay us down.

“I-I’m sorry, I ha-haven’t cried like thi-is in a really long t-t-time, and I can’t st-stop it,” I stuttered and sobbed, trying to control myself and really not getting any better.

“I know love, just let me take care of you, let me help,” he told me, rubbing my back and running his fingers through my hair.

After that I couldn’t stop, couldn’t get any words out, and eventually ended up falling asleep curled up against his body like I was five. But I couldn’t complain because it was wonderful and everything I had needed.

Pretty much the quintessence of Derek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had actually planned on posting Chapter 6 and 7 together but I got writer's block when I was trying to write this one so I just posted Chapter 6 alone. But I finally got this done and I'm pretty happy with it!  
> I am really hoping to post things more often this summer, but I just got a new job that is a lot of work and I'm pretty tired whenever I finish a shift so who knows how quickly I'll be able to update. But I'm going to try!  
> Let me know what you think!


	8. Territory

“He’s just tired I think, we had a talk after you and Scott left.”

“Did he actually say anything? Or was it mostly deflection?”

“Well, he tried. But I can be very patient and persistent when I want to be. He opened up to me,” Derek sounded so fond and content.

I tried not to move or let anything about me change right now. I wanted to see where this went. I was still half-asleep so I just had to stay like that for as long as possible and Derek wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

“I won’t ask you to tell me what he said, because that’s not fair to you, but can you just tell me if he’s okay? I just–I worry about him. He’s so young to have so much on his shoulders. His mom dying was bad enough but then to have to deal with the extra responsibility of becoming an Alpha with no pack… he was so lost and confused. I couldn’t help him, I didn’t know _how_ , and I was trying to deal with it but I started drinking… I let him down.” Dad sounded so dejected, more upset than I had heard him in a while. I hadn’t even realized he had felt this way.

This was making it harder to stay like this. But I wanted to know what was happening, I wanted them to be able to talk, this would help them. And even if dad wasn’t a wolf, he was still pack.

“Sir–”

“Please Derek, call me Noah.”

“Noah. I don’t think you let Stiles down at all. I think you raised him as best you could, and I might be biased but I think you did a great job. He’s kind and compassionate, hilarious, crazy smart, and a great Alpha. Your wife died, nobody expected you to get through that without caring. You were devastated and Stiles understands, because he was too. Stiles is doing just fine, Noah,” Derek reassured him.

“Thank you Derek, he’s wonderful, best thing I ever did, but I still worry. He just has so much on his shoulders and he doesn’t always talk to me about it. I’m glad he has you, to help him and support him. And Claudia loved you, was actually excited about you becoming her son before…” Dad trailed off, not needing to say anything else.

“I’m really sorry about Claudia. She was always such a nice woman, and truly my mom’s best friend. I would have been proud to be considered her son,” Derek told my dad. I couldn’t stay ‘sleeping’ any longer, I had too many emotions running through me.

I shifted a little on Derek, stretching and making sleepy noises.

“Have a nice nap, kid?” Dad asked me from the doorway, smirk evident in his voice. I blinked sleepily up at him and grunted in response.

“Are you still tired? Do you want to go back to sleep?” Derek whispered, running his hand over my hair and my cheek.

I smiled at him, “I’m okay. Are you guys hungry? I can make us some dinner.” I rolled off Derek, almost falling to the floor before I caught myself.

“I’m not really hungry, but maybe you guys should go out and get something to eat? You’ve been cooped up in this house and you deserve a treat. You did a great job this weekend,” Dad told me.

“Yeah, come on baby, I’ll take you for dinner. Where do you wanna go?” Derek asked me, standing up and heading to the kitchen. I followed him.

“Whoa, why are _you_ taking _me_? Why not the other way around? Because I’m younger?” I demanded, mostly just being difficult.

“No, love, because I have way more money and you worked hard this weekend. I want to show my respect and appreciation for my wonderful Alpha,” he countered. He kissed me and nudged me towards my shoes.

“Fine, fine. You pick though, if you’re paying.” I put my coat on and tossed Derek his.

“Noah, are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Derek asked dad as he put on his coat and shoes.

“No,” Dad answered. “You guys go ahead. You haven’t really had much of an opportunity to go on a date or anything, and you both deserve it. Just don’t be out too late–it is a school night. I have to go back into work for the night shift, so I’ll probably be gone when you get back. Have a good time,” he smiled at us and went upstairs to change. I took that as our cue to leave.

I was about to climb into the Jeep when Derek yanked me out and dragged me over to his car.

“Dude!” I protested and flailed.

“Hey, I’m taking you on a date, that means _I’m_ driving. Come on, you did so much for me this week, let me do this for you, please?” He was practically begging, pouting and trailing kisses along my throat. How could I resist?

“Alright, you drive,” I relented, laughing at his persistent pouting. He kept kissing my neck, pulling me in closer to him. “Dude, if you keep this up we aren’t going to be eating, we’ll just end up fucking in your car.”

“I don’t see the problem,” he moaned against my collar bone, sucking quickly disappearing marks into the skin there.

Thanking whatever divine presence there was for the dark that made us invisible to all prying eyes, I shoved him against the side of his car, growling low in my chest and sinking my teeth into the mark on his shoulder. He groaned and went lax under my hands. I licked the mark, hearing him moan quietly.

“Now,” I whispered as I pulled away from his shoulder and brought my red eyes up to his blue. “As much as I want to fuck you, and believe me _I do_ ,” I rubbed the front of my jeans against his to prove just how much, “I thought you wanted to take me on a date?”

“I do,” he whispered back and there was a slight growl in his voice. God, he really made it difficult to concentrate.

“How about we pick this up when we get back,” I suggested with a quick kiss. I smirked at the eager look in his eyes.

“Okay, let’s go eat,” Derek conceded, smiling back at me as I pushed away from the car and went to the passenger seat of the Camaro. He drove to a little diner in the middle of town. It wasn’t anything special but they had the best pie that money could buy. He must have talked to Scott because this is my favourite place to eat.

“Hold on, let me get the door for you,” he said, laughing at the fact that I was practically vibrating with excitement. It felt good to get out of the house and go on an actual date with Derek.

Once the door was open he grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a kiss, a short but disorientingly perfect kiss. He pulled away and I pouted, momentarily forgetting about where we were and why we were here.

“I thought I was taking you on a date?” He asked smugly, before leaning in to whisper in my ear: “Unless the offer of fucking in the car still stands.”

I shivered, nipping playfully at his ear to try and hide just how much he was affecting me.

“Well, I’m starving but if you want me to skip dinner…” I teased, smirking right back at him. He just laughed and started walking into the diner, dragging me along with him.

When we had found an empty booth, a waitress came over to give us menus and take our drink orders. I was going to let Derek order first but he looked at me pointedly, meaning he wanted me to go first. Ever the gentleman.

“I’ll just have a Dr. Pepper and a water,” I told her, smiling politely. Not that she even saw it.

“And what can I get you?” The suggestion clear in her voice, and body language, and chemo signals. I understood how attractive Derek was, and this was something I should probably get used to, but it took every ounce of control not to growl and pull Derek in for a kiss to show dominance.

“I’ll have the same,” Derek answered, barely even sparing the waitress ( _Ashley_ , according to her nametag) a glance. I smirked when I smelled her disappointment as she walked away. Derek raised his eyebrow at me, questioning my mood swings. I just shook my head, smiling brightly at him.

“So, do you know what you’re getting?” I asked him, not even bothering to open my menu. I got the same thing every time.

“Yeah, the bacon cheeseburger and extra curly fries,” he told me. Also not opening his menu.

“That’s what I was going to get!” I shouted, and then slapped my hand over my mouth when everyone turned to stare at me. “Sorry, I’m just excited,” I admitted, blushing at the fact that I was probably embarrassing the shit out of him right now.

“It’s alright, you’ve had a lot on your shoulders this weekend, you’re allowed to be a teenager sometimes,” he reassured me, squeezing my hand. I smiled at him, forever grateful to be mated with someone so understanding.

He was rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand when Ashley walked back over with the drinks. She looked at our joined hands for a moment before placing the drinks on the table and turning to Derek. I forced my hand to stay where it was and looked down at the table, sure that my eyes were red.

“Have you decided what you want to order?” She asked Derek, probably fluttering her lashes at him.

“Uh, yeah, I’ll have a bacon cheeseburger with extra curly fries. Stiles?” Derek’s voice was heavy with concern. I took a deep breath to gain control and anchored myself to Derek’s hand in mine. Ashley turned to me, reluctant to take her eyes off Derek.

“I’ll have the same,” I told her, smiling. Okay, so maybe I let my teeth go just a _little_ sharper than usual, and _maybe_ I let red tinge my eyes for a second. But hey, she wouldn’t notice anything. At least, not really–she would just assume she was imagining things. She gasped and backed away quickly before practically running from the table.

“Stiles!” Derek admonished. I turned to him and couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my mouth.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it,” I said when I stopped laughing. Because I was for sure not giggling like a child. Derek raised an eyebrow at me again–the dude had expressive eyebrows.

“Are you telling me you didn’t notice?” I asked incredulously.

“Notice what, Stiles?” Derek demanded, absolutely and completely baffled about the current situation. He was actually oblivious, probably didn’t realize how often people hit on him.

“The fact that she was ready to fuck you right here in this booth, despite being fully aware of us,” I told him bluntly, squeezing his hand to emphasize the ‘us’.

He gaped at me, a blush rising up his neck and into his cheeks. “No she wasn’t,” he denied.

“Fine, I won’t say anything the next time she comes back and you pay attention,” I suggested. He just shook his head at me like I was crazy and changed the subject.

Ashley came back ten minutes later with our food and she seemed to have calmed down. She put our food down and turned to Derek, as I had expected.

“Is there _anything else_ I can get you?” She asked, smiling brightly at Derek. I just leaned back in my seat and smirked. I was competitive and smug, I was aware of my flaws.

“No, thanks,” Derek said bluntly. I couldn’t help the joy that brought me, him being completely uninterested in her. I smiled broadly, which she happened to turn and see. She scoffed and stalked away, annoyed that a scrawny teenage boy held Derek’s interest more than she did.

“I’m not one of those people that likes to say ‘I told you so’, but…”

“Yes you are,” Derek corrected me, taking one of my fries before starting on his burger.

I laughed, “You’re right, I told you so. Dude, have you seen yourself? Do you know how people react to you?”

Derek ducked his head, but I could see the blush heating up his ears. “Stiles, stop. Not everyone sees me like you do,” he whispered.

“Derek,” I reached over to lift his chin so that he was looking at me. “You and me, that is all that matters. But I just want you to understand that you are so much better than you think you are, so much more than you see in yourself. But I get it,” I admitted.

He smiled at me, grabbing my hand and kissing it. He was still blushing but I don’t think he was embarrassed, more pleased than anything. “Thank you,” he whispered, ducking his head. “I’m starting to think that now that I have you – I have to have done something right.”

Now it was my turn to blush. “Eat your dinner,” I told him, trying to hide my embarrassment but I couldn’t find the energy to care too much. This was Derek and I loved him and there was no point in being embarrassed when he said something nice to me. This was supposed to be normal–healthy even.

I decided then that I wasn’t going to be embarrassed anymore when he complimented me, I was going to accept it and acknowledge that he truly meant what he was saying.

We ate our dinner in comfortable silence. It was nice, one of the best dates I had ever been on.

Okay, it was one of the only dates I had been on, but still. If I had been on any number of dates, this would probably still top the list.  It was Derek, and smiles, and the best burgers and fires one could buy in Beacon Hills. How could it get any better?

“Are we all finished here? Can I get you anything else? Dessert?” Derek and I looked up at the new waiter. I listened to see if Ashley had left, maybe her shift had ended?

Nope, she was still here. I tried, unsuccessfully, to hold back my laugh. She was avoiding us.

“… why he’s with someone like _him_. He’s definitely a few years older, and completely out of his league. I’m _so_ much hotter than that kid anyways…” She was muttering to herself in the back.

“Stiles, do you have a favourite pie?” Derek asked. He seemed to be unaware of Ashley’s commentary, which was probably for the best. Derek didn’t exactly deal well with people insulting me.

“Can we get an apple pie to-go?” I asked the waiter, smiling politely.

He flashed me a slightly too-friendly smile in return. “Of course,” he answered. I felt his hand brush mine as he grabbed our dishes. Wow, were Derek and I giving off some sort of signal here?

I could hear a growl building up in Derek’s throat and was glad when the waiter left with our plates quickly.

I reached across the table to grab Derek’s hand–if I touched him, his scent would cover the waiter’s scent and that would probably calm him down.

After about a minute he relaxed and the tension left his shoulders.

“People are really testing our patience tonight, aren’t they?” I joked with him, kissing his knuckles. The second waiter came back with the pie just then, and I wasn’t sure if he had heard me. Either way, he acted as though he hadn’t.

“Alright, here you are,” he announced, placing the box on the table between us. “is there–”

“Just the bill, please,” Derek said, glaring openly at the waiter. ‘Steven’, according to the nametag.

Steven’s heartrate increased at the dangerously annoyed look in Derek’s eyes and quietly slid the bill over. Derek pulled out the correct amount of cash from his wallet, slammed it on the table, and left the booth. I followed quickly, a wide smile on my face.

God, I was going to be getting some good sex tonight.

“Oh baby, what’s wrong?” I asked him when we were almost to the car, feigning innocence.

He pushed me against the side of the Camaro, his body pressed against mine. “He touched you” was the only answer that I got before he started trying to leave marks all over my neck.

“Are you jealous? Did you think I wanted him?” I teased, trying to get him riled up a little more.

He just growled, grinding against me like he was hoping the friction might tear a hole through my jeans.

I ran my hand up his back and into his hair, my fingers combing through the strands before flipping us around and tugging his head to the side, giving me better access to his throat. He whined, high and needy. I was very happy nobody could hear us, but we definitely needed to get home before this escalated and he started wolfing out.

“Okay baby, I’m driving us home,” I mumbled against his jugular. It was a sign of how far gone he was that he didn’t bother arguing with me and just got into the passenger seat while I got behind the wheel. I pealed out of the parking lot, and was home faster than was probably legal, but I was keeping myself just barely under control, and the whines and heavy scent of Derek’s arousal were not helping.

“Okay, upstairs. Then I’ll show you just how much I only want you, alright baby?”

Derek could only nod before he was bolting upstairs. I put the pie on the counter, taking my time. I wanted him, _badly_ , but if I stayed calm and didn’t rush, Derek would only get that much more worked up and that would make everything so much better. Not that it wasn’t unbelievably fantastic last time.

I forced myself to walk up the stairs at a normal pace and I was so fucking happy I had when I got to my room and saw Derek.

He was on all fours on my bed, his clothes all over my room like he had ripped them off in a rush. He turned his head to look at me, his eyes glowing and a whine coming from his throat. He was the picture of desperate and needy. And he was all mine. I breathed out shakily and I then proceeded to frantically rip off my clothes. I had planned on taking this slowly but I needed to feel his skin against mine, I needed to hear him moan my name and beg for more.

I pounced on the bed behind him and pressed a finger to his hole.

I groaned when it slid in with no resistance. “Fuck, Der,” I moaned and added another finger. “Did you stretch yourself open when you were waiting?”

He groaned and pushed against my fingers. “Yes, I need you, _please Stiles_ ,” he begged. He was trying to fuck himself on my fingers but I pulled my hand back so he couldn’t. I heard a desperate sob and another “please.”

I shushed him, stroking his thigh soothingly. “It’s alright baby, I just want to show you how much I love you, can you be patient?” I asked as I slid one finger back in slowly.

He whimpered but nodded. I kept stretching him out slowly, telling him how good he is, how perfect. Once he was stretched more than enough I pulled my fingers out. Derek made a panicked sound before I covered his back with my body. He noticeably calmed down.

“You’re such a good boy for me Der, so perfect,” I whispered against his skin. “I’m gonna show you just how perfect you are for me; do you want that?” Before I had even gotten the whole question out he was moaning and pushing back against my cock.

“Yes Stiles, please, please, _please_ ,” he begged.

He was almost wolfed out, I could hear it. I slid into him and groaned against his skin. Derek groaned, his face pressed into a pillow to muffle the sound.

I couldn’t have that.

“No baby, come on, I want to hear every beautiful sound you make. It makes me so happy to hear how good I can make you feel,” I told him as I began to move in and out of him slowly. God, how was he still so tight around me? It was taking everything I had to not start fucking him into the mattress. But I had a plan and I wanted to stick to it.

“Stiles, please,” he begged.

“Oh baby, I’m going to take care of you, don’t worry,” I told him quietly speeding up only slightly.

“Stiles, that girl at the restaurant,” he said. I growled warningly and grabbed his hips and pounded into him a couple times before calming down again.

“Stiles, she wanted me. She thought she was good enough for me, that I should want her instead. Show me how wrong she is and **wreck me, my Alpha** ,” he goaded. His words had the effect he wanted.

I completely lost control and the wolf took over. I started fucking him relentlessly and leaned over him, biting and sucking every inch of skin I could reach, wanting to mark him, to show everyone that he was _mine_.

“Oh _fuck_ , yes Stiles, I’m yours, only yours,” I heard Derek saying, which appeased my wolf.

“Mine,” I growled in agreement. I was close and I could smell that he was, too. I reached around to grab his cock and had barely touched him before he was tensing up around me and shouting my name as he came on the bed.

His orgasm pushed me over the edge and I thrusted twice before biting the mark on his shoulder and cumming in him. I moaned against his skin, letting the feeling of my climax wash over me this time.

When I had come down from the sex high I pulled out of Derek. When I saw my cum start leaking out of him I whined and began trying to push it back in. I wasn’t fully aware of what I was doing until I heard Derek whine, probably from overstimulation.

“I-I’m sorry,” I whispered sheepishly. “I didn’t even think, it was just instinct,” I admitted as I lay beside him and pulled him closer to cuddle. I buried my nose in the crook of his neck; my wolf was elated that I could smell myself on him, that he was properly marked and everyone would know.

Well, anyone who was a werewolf.

“I know Mischief, it’s pretty normal,” he told me.

“Okay, good. I know I’m an Alpha so I should probably have a better idea of what the fuck I’m doing but I honestly have no clue. I’m pretty much going on instinct and logic and hoping I’m doing okay,” I said.

“I promise, you’re doing a great job, and anytime you have questions I am here to help. That’s my job, I _want_ to help you,” he said, turning his head to look up at me. I smiled and pulled him up so I could kiss him, trying to put everything I was feeling and everything I wanted to say into it.

“By the way, I had a plan. You derailed my sex-plan,” I admonished him jokingly.

“Your ‘sex-plan’?”

“I was going go slow and show you just how much I love you and how perfect we are for each other. That is, until you got me to go full-Alpha and fuck you senseless,” I explained. “Not that I didn’t like your way.”

“Well, who’s saying you can’t still show me?” He asked, climbing onto me. I grinned at him, flipping us over.

“That’s true, I wouldn’t want to leave you feeling anything less than adored,” I smirked and kissed him. Derek really was perfect for me and fuck, I really did love him.

* * *

“Well, I really liked your plan,” Derek told me an hour later. I was in his arms as he ran his hand over my hair, which was almost long enough to grab. Which brought new possibilities…

“I’m glad,” I told him, smiling and storing away my hair-grabbing thoughts for later. I wanted to enjoy this, laying here where we could pretend the outside problems didn’t exist. “Though, I think your plan was pretty good, too. I didn’t realize I would get that possessive so easily,” I said.

He smirked, he was still very smug that I was any level of possessive over him. I didn’t understand what there was about _me_ to be proud of, but I wasn’t going to question my luck.

“We should probably get some sleep,” he suggested. “You have school tomorrow, and I have to get back to looking for stuff about the Alpha. I was thinking about going to see your dad about what they found out about Laura.”

“You should talk to Deaton, too,” I told him, shifting around to our regular sleeping position–him in my arms.

“Who?”

“Alan Deaton, he’s the vet in town. He was Hale Pack Emissary, and he helped me a lot after my mom died,” I told him.

“What? What is an Emissary?” Derek looked genuinely confused by this information.

“How about we go tomorrow, he can explain it to you. I don’t know everything and I won’t be able to answer all your questions,” I explained. He nodded reluctantly, probably hating the fact that he had to wait. I laughed.

“Let’s sleep, Der,” I whispered. He closed his eyes, smiling when I started running my fingers through his hair.

Derek fell asleep fairly quickly, which was no surprise after the long day we’d had. I felt wide awake, but the next thing I knew, I was waking up to my alarm.

“Ugh, why does school have to be so early?” Derek groaned, rolling away.

“Dude, you don’t even have to get up!” I complained, walking to the bathroom for a shower.

“Uh, well, you know, maybe I should shower,” Derek said, following me to the bathroom.

I rolled my eyes, laughing. “Yeah? Is that so?”

“Well, after last night…”

“Yeah, sure, _that’s_ what you mean. So, you won’t mind if I keep my hands to myself?” I asked, feigning innocence.

“Oh, that’s perfectly alright with me,” he said, grinning widely before dropping to his knees. I just stared as he took me in his mouth.

And wow, this was… fucking magnificent. I leaned against the wall and groaned. His mouth was so warm and wet.

My hips jerked involuntarily into his mouth. He moaned–and fuck that was great, he should do that again.

“Der-ek,” I groaned again, grabbing his hair to keep me grounded. It was so good I felt like I was going to float out of my body forever.

I was so close, and when I told him this he slid a finger over my hole, letting it slip in a little, and then I was cumming down his throat. I had to shove my fist in my mouth to keep from shouting and then waking up my dad. He was a heavy sleeper, but not that heavy.

Then Derek was standing and holding me up because I felt like my legs were made of jelly and would collapse any moment.

“Holy fuck,” I whispered, kissing him hard.

“I wanted to repay you for our other shower,” he told me, smiling sweetly.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Now, we really should shower,” I said, laughing. He laughed too, and grabbed the soap.

I drove to school, and Derek came with me. He said it was because he wanted to run some errands, and the Jeep was less obvious, but I think it was because he wanted people to see us together. I was perfectly okay with that.

Even with the longer than usual shower we still got to the school earlier than most people. So we used the extra time productively – Derek crawled over to my side of the Jeep and we made out.

“Dude,” Scott whispered as he walked over to the Jeep. We broke apart, breathing heavily. Derek opened the door and jumped down from his seat on my lap and I followed, grabbing the keys to give to Derek.

“Hey Scotty,” I greeted, pulling him in for a hug. After the weekend he had smelled a lot like pack, and he still did mostly, but it had faded. Derek pulled him in for a hug, too.

“So, is Isaac around here?” Derek asked, looking around like he thought he might be able to figure it out on his own.

“Uh, yeah, he’s over at the bike rack, locking his bike to it…” Scott said, looking at his shoes like he was embarrassed that he knew where Isaac was without looking.

It was actually adorable how much he liked Isaac, but I didn’t want to bug him about it. Yet.

“We should go say hi!” I said excitedly, grabbing Derek’s hand and dragging him along with me.

Isaac looked surprised when he realized we were walking towards him, but he seemed pleased that Scott was with us. That was good.

“Hey guys,” he smiled shyly at us.

“Hi, Isaac,” Scott replied quietly.

Too cute for words. I could barely stand the emotions flying between them.

“Isaac, this is my boyfriend Derek, he wanted to meet you,” I told him, forcing myself not to say anything that might embarrass Scott or Isaac.

“Hey,” Derek said, smiling.

Isaac smiled back at him and was about to say something before a car door slammed and he jumped away from the noise. Scott immediately stepped between him and – Jackson had just got out of his car.

The level of fear coming off Isaac couldn’t be just from Jackson, something was definitely happening to this kid.

“Seriously, I don’t get it, what is the appeal of Stilinski? You are obviously way out of his league,” Jackson demanded, seemingly annoyed at the fact that we had the audacity to exist in front of him.

“Jackson, seriously, did you learn nothing last week?” I turned my head to see Lydia standing beside Scott and Isaac, Allison on their other side.

“Stiles is beautiful,” Derek answered Jackson’s question like it was an obvious answer and he couldn’t understand why somebody couldn’t see it. I knew he thought it, but it still thrilled me every time he said it.

“Is it because he’ll take it whenever you want some?” Jackson asked, smirking. I wasn’t even going to deign that with a response but apparently Derek felt like continuing this interview.

“Stiles doesn’t ‘take it,’ as you so tactlessly put it.”

Apparently Jackson hadn’t been expecting that Derek was the bottom in the relationship, because he couldn’t get out any response that sounded like coherent English.

Derek smirked, turning to me. “I should get going, I’ll pick you up after school and we can take Scott to work and talk to Deaton,” Derek kissed me. He traded me his jacket for my keys and I smiled. He was so territorial and it made me happy that he cared enough.

“Okay, love you,” I called after him before turning to my friends.

“You need to talk to Deaton?” Scott asked, confused. I couldn’t explain everything with Allison, Lydia, Isaac, and Jackson standing with us, but I could give the truth without the supernatural details.

“Yeah, Deaton knew and worked for Talia Hale, and Derek just wanted to ask–”

I was interrupted by Jackson finally being able to come up with a response to Derek being bluntly honest. “He’s the bitch in the relationship?”

I growled, possibly a little too primal, but I was using all of my control to stop myself from slashing his throat.

“Don’t you _ever_ say that to me again. Firstly, who fucks who in my sex life is **none** of your business, and secondly, just because he’s the bottom does not make him the bitch. Take your heteronormative ideals and shove them–”

“Stiles! You need to calm down,” Scott told me urgently, and I could tell he meant that I was very close to losing control. He wasn’t wrong.

I took a deep breath, keeping my eyes on Scott. “Where’s your tattoo?” He whispered.

I pulled my shirt up to look at the wolf curled up on my rib cage, brushing my fingers over it. It wasn’t moving, maybe because there were humans around–it was a magic tattoo, it had its own rules. I took another deep breath, feeling myself relax.

“Okay, I’m okay,” I said. And I meant it, I was okay.

“Let’s go to English,” Allison suggested, trying to get us out of the tense situation. She really was great.

We all nodded and started walking into the school, leaving Jackson standing by the bike rack.

Allison started walking with Isaac and Scott, and they started talking about the homework. Lydia, however, fell into step with me and pulled my arm a little to slow us down and keep us out of ear shot.

“So, you have a tattoo,” she noted. She made it seem like a question and an observation at the same time.

“Uh, yeah, I got it last week,” I said. It wasn’t a _lie_. I just didn’t mean it the way she thought I did.

“It’s a wolf?” She asked, seeming like she was trying to get all the facts before figuring something out.

“Yeah…” I said, unsure where she was going with this, but I could see in her expression that she was definitely going somewhere.

“We need to talk later,” she said urgently. “Alone.”

I sat in my seat beside Scott, and she sat between Allison and Isaac. She turned her head one last time to give me a look full of meaning before she pulled out her book and gave all of her attention to the front of the class where the teacher had just started talking.

I didn’t know why, but for some reason I felt like… she knows.

She knows I’m a werewolf.

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! I was having a hard time getting through it, so I apologize if it's a little rough. The next chapter is going to get the story moving a little better and I hope I have an easier time with it. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope it's still alright, and let me know what you guys think!
> 
> I'm going to hopefully be expanding the Pack soon! Stiles and Derek deserve to have a big family that loves them.
> 
> I've already started the next chapter and I hope to get through it a little faster. Thanks for reading and remember to let me know what you think!


	9. Doing The Math

How could she know? I was so careful! Okay, so maybe I slipped up sometimes, but I always made sure nobody said anything afterwards.

But, fuck this was Lydia and of course she noticed. I should have been way more careful about everything.

I didn’t pay attention at all through class, luckily the teacher never called on me. I was trying to stay calm and figure out what Lydia was going to say and how I was going to make my lies believable.

When class finally ended I told Scott that I would see him at lunch and left quickly, grabbing Lydia and dragging her to an empty classroom. I was just going to have to miss my second class. This was way more important, and after what happened the other day, Ms. Flemming probably wouldn’t be too upset. If she asked I would just tell her that I had needed some time.

“Stiles,” she said exasperatedly as I closed the door. “I meant later, like after school or during lunch or something. Not now, we’re missing class.”

She didn’t look too concerned about skipping though, and I wasn’t too worried. “Lyds, our marks are the highest in all of our classes, we’re fine. I can’t wait knowing you know something, so tell me,” I demanded. “Please,” I added more politely.

She looked at me, seeming to decide what she was going to say. I waited as patiently as I could, which wasn’t very patiently, but I did my best.

“I know everything Stiles,” she finally told me. “Or should I call you Alpha?”

Shit. Shitshitshitshit. I still hadn’t come up with a reasonable lie!

“I’ll take your silence as confirmation. So, you’re the Alpha, Scott and Derek are Betas, and Allison’s family are Hunters,” she listed off these facts like it was everyday you out the supernatural details of your friends’ lives.

“You’re forgetting the rogue Alpha,” I whispered, still a little horrified that she knew everything.

“I’m sorry, the _what_?”

The shock on her face was genuine. Well, I guess she didn’t know everything.

“I’ll explain, but I need you to tell me _how do you know any of this_?”

She sighed and took a seat, gesturing that I do the same. I did, waiting for her to start speaking. What could convince Lydia to believe in the supernatural?

“I’m a Banshee,” she admitted bluntly.

I stared at her in amazement. A Banshee! I’d only ever heard stories from my mom, Banshees were rare! The gift could only be passed through families, you couldn’t be turned into one.

“My paternal grandmother, Lorraine Martin, was one. My parents thought she was crazy and they put her in Eichen–”

“Eichen? That’s horrible!” I had overheard Talia and my mother talking about some of the people that were put there and the things that had happened to them. I’d had nightmares for weeks.

“I know, I saw her a couple months before she died. She’d had a hole drilled into her head,” she whispered.

I had no words, there was nothing that was appropriate in this situation. I just went with my instinct and reached over to put my hand on hers.

She gave me a small smile before continuing. “Anyways, she kept a journal. She wrote everything down–things that had happened to her, things she found out, notes, lists. Everything. And she left it to me when she died. She’d locked it and given me the key years before so that I was the only one that could open it.

“She’d written about the Hale’s. That’s how I knew about Derek, and I figured you were his Mate.” I must have looked confused by that last part because she further explained, “The way he talked about you, the way you two gravitate towards each other, it’s obvious when you know what to look for.”

“Okay, that makes sense actually,” I admitted. I knew we seemed a little intense for a new relationship, especially considering I was only sixteen, but we were pretty much werewolf married. “But how did you even know I was a werewolf? That I was an Alpha?”

“Well, you do a really good job of hiding it, I will give you that. But when Jackson pissed Derek off at that lacrosse practice, there was no way you could drag both Derek and Scott away. As for knowing you’re an Alpha, I thought I saw your eyes flash red when you yelled at Jackson in the cafeteria, but I wasn’t positive until today when I saw your Mate mark. Only Alpha’s and their Mate’s have marks like that; most Mate pairs only have the bite marks.”

I stared at her, speechless for a few moments. “Wow,” I breathed. I knew Lydia was smart, but this was amazing.

“Speaking of, can I see the Mark?” She asked, curiosity written all over her face. I smiled and lifted my sleeve where I could feel it on my forearm.

She gasped, “It moves? That’s fascinating! Does he have a wolf, too?”

“No, it’s a fox actually,” I told her, happy that I could talk to someone else who knew about all of this. I loved Derek, and I know I could talk to him about anything, but this would just mean I could talk to someone _about_ Derek. I feel like there were some things Scott didn’t want to hear.

“A fox fits you well, I’m not surprised,” she smirked. She leaned back in her seat and raised a perfect eyebrow. I guess that was the sign that it was my turn.

“Alright, so I’m going to go with the short version, and when we have more time I’ll go more in depth. If you want, you can come to Deaton’s with us,” I suggested.

“Yeah, I’ll go with you guys,” she agreed.

“Okay, so. Derek came back to Beacon Hills to look for Laura. She had come back because of the Alpha–I don’t know how she knew about it or why she cared but when she didn’t go back to New York he got worried. When I realized he had come back, I went and talked to him. I’m technically the Alpha of this territory so this is all my responsibility. Our moms were both Alpha’s, but they were best friends and they shared the territory, so I grew up with Derek. Scott was bitten by the Alpha, that’s how he’s a wolf, but he joined my Pack, as did Derek. We brought the other half of Laura’s body to my dad and they identified her, brought Derek in for questioning, and he’s pretty much been cleared of all suspicions. This weekend we locked ourselves in my basement to help Scotty through his first shift, and that’s it,” I finished somewhat lamely.

“So you have no idea who this other Alpha is?” Lydia asked, though it seemed like she already knew that, she just wanted clarification.

“No, we have no idea who it could be. I wish we did.”

“And Scott being Isaac’s Mate?” Lydia asked, getting up as the bell to lunch rang.

I followed her out of the room, not even surprised that she knew about that.

“We figured it out this week when he shifted and the only thing that calmed him down was talking about Isaac. He knows, but he wants to go on the date with Ali to be sure or something,” I told her.

“He’s going to end up with Isaac, you know that, right?” She was certain. I nodded, Derek and I knew. But we couldn’t make the decision for Scott.

“So you know about the Argent’s?” I asked her. Did that mean Allison knew and had told her? I couldn’t see that being the case.

“Yeah, my grandmother wrote about them. Not much, just what they were and to watch out for someone named Kate, and someone else named Gerard,” she said. I stopped in my tracks, shocked to hear her name.

“Kate Argent?” I croaked. She turned, looking a little startled at my reaction. She just nodded, her eyes questioning.

“She’s the one that burned Derek’s family alive,” I whispered so only she could hear.

“What?” She gasped, looking horrified. “That’s why Derek seemed so weird when he first saw Allison, he knew who she was.”

“We’ll talk about it later,” I told her, shaking myself out of the shock. If Lorraine was writing about these two Argents… They must have killed a fair few people.

“I wanted to ask you though, does Allison know what her family does?”

“No,” Lydia answered. I trusted her answer, she seemed more aware of things in this town than I thought possible.

“Do you think we should tell her about the supernatural? That way she’s hearing about it from us and not from her family,” I asked. I had been thinking about it for a while, ever since Scott got involved with her.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing. I think that would be our best option. Maybe just you and I though? I feel like Scott and Derek would make it too… much.” I nodded.

We walked through the cafeteria doors, seeing Scott, Allison, Isaac, and Danny sitting at the table from the other day.

“Hey guys, where were you last period?” Danny asked. We’d had Math with him and Scott.

“Stiles and I had to talk about some things,” Lydia answered, very matter-of-fact, and very much not open to questions.

“Lydia’s coming to Deaton’s with us after school,” I told Scott. He looked surprised but quickly covered his reaction with a smile.

“Okay, sounds good.”

“Allison, do you want to come over to my place to study tomorrow?” Lydia asked, nudging my knee. I nodded slightly to let her know I understood.

“Yeah, sounds good,” she agreed, flashing her dimples.

The rest of the day went by normally. I told Scott about Lydia really quickly between third and fourth period to explain our absence from chemistry. He was surprised, to say the least.

Once school was over, the three of us walked to the parking lot, Scott asking Lydia a few questions about Banshees. We got outside, and there was Derek leaning against the Jeep looking like an ad out of a magazine.

He looked from Lydia to me questioningly as we got closer but didn’t say anything, probably worried he would give something away.

“Hi,” I greeted him, pulling him to me and kissing him. I felt him relax under my touch and I pulled away, smiling at him.

“How was school?” He asked, looking to Scott and Lydia to let them know he was asking them too.

“It was good. Lydia knows by the way,” I told him casually. He looked at Lydia and then me, concerned that I had given it away.

“Banshee,” she said, pointing at herself before climbing into the back of the Jeep.

“Well, okay then,” he said after registering that for a minute. Then the three of us followed her into the Jeep and drove over to Deaton’s. The others asked each other questions that I already knew all the answers to and I just thought about what this could mean for us.

Obviously Lydia would have been an asset to the Pack if she was just human, but her being a Banshee just adds even more, more than I could have ever hoped for. We could be even stronger than I had ever dreamed of being.

I parked in front of the building, telling Scott and Derek that I wanted to talk to Lydia for a minute.

“I’ll introduce you to Deaton,” Scott told Derek.

“So, I wanted to ask you something, but I didn’t want you to feel pressured to say yes with the other two here,” I told her.

“What’s up?”

“Do you want to be in my Pack?” The only reason I was worried about her answer was because she was, in most respects, human. Being part of a Pack could be dangerous for her, it might not be in her best interest.

“Of course, why do you think I enlightened you of my knowledge?” The ‘duh’ was implied in her tone.

I grinned at her, ecstatic that my Pack was coming together so smoothly. There had been issues, but they didn’t seem to be too detrimental.

“Thanks Lydia, I’ll need someone that isn’t afraid to be brutally honest with me,” I told her truthfully. She returned my smile before climbing out of the car and we followed Scott and Derek into the clinic.

“Ah, Mr. Stilinski,” Deaton greeted me. I looked around to see Derek standing in the corner of the room, looking grouchy and socially awkward. Scott wasn’t there so I assumed Deaton had asked him to go take care of something.

“Hey, Deaton,” I said, waving back and walking up to the low wall separating the waiting area and the operating room. I paused there, waiting for someone to open the little door, breaking the barrier.

“Are you going to go in?” Lydia asked, walking past me and opening the door.

“We are _now_ ,” I answered, somewhat sulky that I had to be let in.

I saw Deaton smirk before leading us to his back room. He knew I understood his need for protection, I just made the same joke every time I stopped by.

“What does that mean?” Lydia wouldn’t feel the mountain ash, it wouldn’t stop her like us.

“The clinic is made of mountain ash. We can’t get past that divider unless someone opens the door for us,” Derek said gruffly.

We needed to work on his social skills.

“Anyways,” I interjected, wanting to get to the real reason we were there. “Scott introduced you?”

“He did, before I asked him to help out with some things quickly. He’ll be back soon.” Deaton was rifling through some jars and boxes of herbs and magicky stuff.

“This is Lydia Martin,” I introduced them. “She’s the granddaughter of a Banshee named Lorraine Martin, and has inherited the power.”

Deaton looked interested, shaking her hand and giving her a small smile. He seemed to know that we had come to ask questions and turned his attention to Derek and I once more.

“Okay, so, can you explain to Derek what you did for Talia. I don’t know everything and if he had any questions I wouldn’t be able to answer.”

Deaton nodded, “I was the Emissary for the Hale Pack. That means I advised your mother with pack matters, and helped her understand and deal with possible threats and other Packs. I’m also a Druid, so I’ve learned as much as I can about the supernatural world, herbs, magic, and so on.”

Lydia looked impressed. Derek’s face was impassive, but I had rolled up my sleeves–I could see his wolf. It looked… interested was the best word for it.

“So, you knew my mother well?” Derek asked, sounding nonchalant, but I knew better.

“I did. Talia was a good friend and a truly good Alpha,” he told Derek. Derek nodded once in agreement.

I knew Derek wasn’t going to ask any more questions just yet, he was going to process the new information. “We were wondering if you knew anything about this rogue Alpha or Laura Hale’s death,” I asked, jumping right into it.

“Well, the police asked me to identify the animal that attacked her. I obviously had to say wolf. But what’s interesting is this isn’t the first death that I’ve connected to this Alpha,” he told me. He walked to another desk, pulled open a drawer and started looking for something.

“There’ve been more deaths? I haven’t heard of any other people dying,” I said, startled to miss that. Surely dad would have said something to me?

“Not a person,” he corrected me, handing me a photograph. It was a deer with a spiral carved into its side.

I handed it to Derek to see what he thought of it.

“This was done to lure Laura here. So, this Alpha was probably a Beta, or an Omega, and got Laura to come here to take her power. That’s why you didn’t know about another Alpha being in town. There wasn’t one,” Derek whispered.

“But, why get Laura to come all the way here when there was a much easier Alpha to get to?” I wondered.

“Well, there are a few possibilities. First, you’ve been hiding the fact that you’re a werewolf, let alone an Alpha, ever since your mother died. But I think it’s more likely–”

“Laura was a specific target,” Lydia said, interrupting Deaton. He nodded but said nothing else.

We were silent for a while, absorbing this. I had been thinking, well _hoping_ , this murder had been an unpleasant coincidence. I should have known that we couldn’t be that lucky.

Scott came back into the room. He looked like he was thinking hard about something. He looked over Lydia’s shoulder to see the picture of the deer.

“You told me that Laura and Derek have been gone for years. And this spiral is a revenge symbol. Who wanted revenge against Laura in Beacon Hills?” Scott questioned. It was a good point.

“Well, Kate set the fire that killed my family, maybe she was trying to finish the job,” Derek suggested. I could practically feel the waves of rage coming off him. I was about to walk over to him to try and comfort him, but he moved to me first. He just grabbed my hand, holding on like a lifeline.

I squeezed back, hoping to give him some form of comfort. “The Argents seem like the obvious culprits, but I don’t know. They just got back to Beacon Hills, and we haven’t seen anything to suggest Kate is with them.”

“Maybe the revenge isn’t with Laura, but it involved her in some way?” Lydia suggested. “Because, if it was someone trying to kill the rest of the Hale’s, Derek is alive. Have there been any indications that someone is trying to hurt you?”

“No, nothing. And, it’s a werewolf doing this,” Derek admitted. He frowned, and I wasn’t sure if it was because he was just generally unhappy with all of this or if he was thinking.

“Do either of you know anything about other werewolves near here?” Lydia asked us.

“I haven’t been here in years, I have no idea who is anywhere near here. I didn’t even know Stiles was here until he came and talked to me,” Derek admitted. He sounded frustrated that he didn’t have more information to work with.

“The only other Pack near here is Satomi’s Pack, but they’re Buddhists. They would never attack anyone,” I supplied. I wished there was more I could give Derek. “Deaton, do you think you could ask Satomi if she knows anything? I know her Pack is very private and I don’t want to involve them if it’s unnecessary.”

Deaton nodded but said nothing. I took his silence as knowing nothing about this new Alpha.

“We should go, let you get back to work,” Derek said abruptly, holding his hand out to Deaton. Deaton took his hand and shook it briefly.

“Thank you, I’m sorry I couldn’t have been more helpful. Lydia, feel free to come by if you have questions. I’ve never met a Banshee, but I may be helpful,” Deaton offered. She nodded before leaving and we followed her out.

I didn’t start the car when the three of us were seated, to which Lydia looked like she was going to comment. I just held my hand up to keep her from saying anything.

After a few moments, Derek leaned forward and put his head in his hands. I could see his shoulders shaking, not from crying, but he had been holding himself together in the clinic. He was just letting everything move through him now.

I didn’t say anything, didn’t even move. Derek reached over and grabbed my hand, squeezing it so tight that I felt some of the bones break. That was fine, I could handle that, and I would heal. Derek needed me to just be there for him right now and I would do just that.

After a few minutes he sat up but didn’t let go of my hand. He looked like he normally did, stoic and indifferent. “Let’s go.”

He let go of my hand then, I pushed the bones into the right places before they healed wrong, and started the car. We didn’t say anything else for a few minutes as we drove towards the school again.

“So boys, are you going home?” Lydia asked as we pulled into the parking lot.

“Yeah, I was going to go grocery shopping and make dinner for Derek and my Dad. Do you want to come?” I asked her, pulling up beside her car.

“I would love to, beats going home to my mother complaining about everything. And then we can also plan on what we’re going to say to Allison tomorrow.” She got out of the Jeep and into her own car.

 I started driving towards the store, Lydia following behind me. “What are you two talking to Allison about tomorrow?” Derek asked, trying to sound casual but just sounding strained and worried.

I kept my eyes fixed on the road. I was worried about how he would react to our plan, if he would agree to it or think we were insane.

“We’re going to tell her everything,” I told him. “Just Lydia and I. Allison is going to Lydia’s tomorrow, she thinks it’s to study. We’ll plan the rest tonight with you and Scott when he’s done work. Hopefully he’s on board. Lydia and I just think that it would be better if she heard all of this from us, instead of her family,” I explained, finally looking at him.

He was looking back at me, and his expression was so soft, so full of fondness, that it took nearly all my effort to look back at the road again. I couldn’t understand what about this was making him look at me like that–I had assumed he would be confused or pissed, at the very least he would disagree with me.

“That makes sense,” he agrees.

“It does?”

“Yeah, she’s going to find out. It’s inevitable, with her family, and her being friends with you guys. She’s surrounded by it. But it’s better if she hears it from us, where we can defend ourselves, show her that we aren’t the monsters that people think,” he rationalized. I nodded, I had been thinking the same thing.

We were at the grocery store, Lydia pulling in beside the Jeep and getting out quickly. Derek got out, and I assumed that meant he was either in agreement or he wanted to have a lengthier conversation about this. From his reaction, I think it was the former.

The shopping trip didn’t take very long surprisingly, probably because everyone wanted to get home so we could discuss everything more. I ignored the few weird looks we got–I was sort of the town spaz, and Derek was the guy whose sister was just killed, and Lydia was one of the most popular girls in school, we were definitely an unexpected group.

After grabbing everything we needed and paying, I drove home, Lydia following again.

“Okay, so after I put everything away I’m going to start making the lasagna, is it okay if we stay in the kitchen?” I asked as we were carrying the bags in–Derek and I had four each, Lydia had one and only because she insisted we let her help.

“Of course, I want to do some work while we talk anyways,” Lydia said. Derek just nodded, he didn’t care where we were.

Lydia pulled out a few textbooks and notebooks and started working, Derek and I put away the groceries and I started making dinner.

“What are you working on?” Derek asked Lydia, sitting across from her and trying to read the advanced math problems.

“Math,” Lydia said simply, the look on her face implying the ‘duh’.

“Yes, I recognize that that is math, but that doesn’t look anything like the math I took in the tenth grade. Actually, it doesn’t look like any math that I took at all in high school,” Derek clarified.

I chuckled, laying the lasagna noodles in the baking pan.

“I get bored of the assignments from the teacher, so I make up my own equations to work on mathematical and scientific theories,” she told him. I heard her close her books, and I assumed she was deciding to work on this later. I wasn’t surprised, she would probably get distracted by Derek and I talking and she would want to be a part of the conversation.

I turned to look at them for a second and saw Derek staring at her, mouth open slightly. “How smart _are_ you?” He questioned quietly, awe filtering into his voice.

“I have an IQ of about 170, so I’m classified as a genius.”

“Oh, okay then,” he choked out. It sounded like he was trying not to sound as shocked as he clearly was.

“Don’t worry, only Stiles was able to figure out how smart I am, I hide it very well,” she assured him, probably trying to make sure he didn’t feel like an asshole for assuming she wasn’t that smart.

“Why?”

“Honestly, mostly because Jackson would have been threatened, and I wanted to be popular because I felt like a freak for being a Banshee. But the last few days have changed my mind. I want to be Pack and I hate pretending to be this shallow, stupid person. It’s _exhausting_ and demeaning,” she said. I smiled, glad she had come to this conclusion without me having to push her into it.

“I’m glad you’re going to stop hiding Lyds, you’re awesome,” I told her as I slid the lasagna into the oven.

“Me too,” she smiled back. “Okay, so while we wait for Scott, can you catch me up on everything?”

So, Derek and I explained what had happened, starting with the Hale fire. We told her about Derek leaving with Laura, my mother dying and my subsequent Alpha inheritance, the Mate Bond, the Alpha, and Scott, and Laura being killed. She listened without interrupting, and I wasn’t surprised – we had explained this so much in the past couple weeks that we had the story practically rehearsed.

When we were finished she took a few moments to process everything. I pulled the lasagna out of the oven.

“Okay, that all makes sense. So… you have _no_ idea who the Alpha could be?” She clarified. Most people wouldn’t have noticed the edge to her voice but I had spent a long time listening to Lydia, I knew her pretty well. It sounded like she had a guess about something but wasn’t sure how much she should say.

“No, I don’t know of any wolves in the area, except Satomi’s Pack. But I’m certain that nobody in her pack is behind it,” I told her. And I really was sure of that.

“There are _no other wolves_ in the area?”

“No, none.” Derek sounded annoyed now.

“Lydia, what are you thinking?” I asked, sitting down at the table again.

She actually looked… embarrassed? No, she was nervous.

“Well, you _do_ know of one werewolf in the area with a connection to Laura, you just wouldn’t think of them,” she whispered. I had never known Lydia to be so unsure of what she was saying.

“What do you mean? No we… don’t…” Derek trailed off, looking like his brain was connecting the pieces and he was getting what Lydia was saying.

“Derek, please don’t get mad that I’m suggesting it,” Lydia practically begged. I wasn’t sure if she was scared of hurting Derek or insulting him, whatever it was that she was suggesting.

“No,” he whispered, but his rejection sounded more like denial rather than being absolutely sure of this.

“What the hell are you two thinking?” I demanded, a little frustrated at being left out of the big revelation.

“Peter,” they both said, turning to look at me. Lydia looked sad, like she wished she didn’t have to be saying this. Derek though… Derek looked lost. I put my hand in his, realizing that this… this was possible. And that would mean Derek had no more family left, not really.

“But… he’s in a coma. How could he be the Alpha?” I asked, wanting this not to be true. I didn’t want Derek to lose his last living family member.

“Well, humans come out of comas all the time, it’s very often the body shutting down to repair itself. It’s taken so long because if Peter had been human, he would have died. The only reason he isn’t dead is because he has a supernatural ability to heal, and–”

“The more life-threatening the injury, the longer it takes to heal it,” I interjected.

“He targeted Laura for her Alpha status, probably to get revenge. Peter was always selfish, he would do anything to get whatever he wanted. Even kill his family. And he holds grudges, even for the smallest things. He would have been dwelling on what happened the whole time he was conscious.”

“But we can’t know all of this for sure, what if–”

Derek interrupted my desperate attempt to hold everything together. “Stiles, I don’t want it to be true either, but you know it makes sense.”

“Fine, but are we absolutely certain? Because I think we should be completely sure, and discuss what this means before we do anything. Can you at least agree with me on that?” I asked him, desperate to get him to take some time to think this over and not to do anything rash.

“I agree with Stiles,” Lydia said. “You don’t want to make any decisions right now, and you need to decide what you’ll do if it is true. And I think that should be a decision you make with the Pack, because you need us Derek.”

Derek didn’t say anything for a few minutes, and we didn’t push it. He knew what we thought, and ultimately this was his decision. I would support him no matter what he did, but I was worried about him doing something he would regret.

“Okay. Okay.” He sounded like he was convincing himself to agree with us. “I’ll wait. But I want to go see Peter tomorrow. After you two talk to Allison. I’ll go by myself if nobody–”

“Shut up Derek, we’re obviously going with you,” Lydia cut in, sounding like her usual ‘take-no-bullshit’ self. That was reassuring.

“Of course we’re going with you baby,” I squeezed his hand reassuringly. “We’re your Pack, we wouldn’t let you do any of this alone. And if it does turn out that Peter is the Alpha, I’m sure as hell not letting you go alone.”

“Are you not worried about the fact that everyone I’ve ever loved has died? And the last family I had is a psychotic, power-hungry monster?”

“Derek, we’ve all lost people. And we all know that it’s not your fault, so we have nothing to worry about. I love you, and that means I won’t let you be alone, especially when you shouldn’t be. I know Scott will be there, he loves you too,” I told him.

“We’re Pack, we help, support, and take care of each other. I trust you, and I know you would do the same for all of us. We’re here for you Derek, even when you don’t want or expect us to be,” Lydia added.

Derek smiled at us, “Thank you. That means a lot.” Then we both froze, tilting our heads towards the door. Scott was just down the street, we could smell him and hear his heartbeat.

“Oh my god, that was perfectly in sync!” Lydia laughed. We turned to glare at her, but we did that in sync too which just made her laugh harder.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s hilarious,” I grumbled, going to dish up the lasagna for the four of us while Derek went to open the door.

“Is he going to be okay?” Lydia whispered as quietly as she could when she heard Scott talking to Derek at the front door. He wouldn’t be able to hear her.

I just nodded, knowing that anything she would be able to hear me say, he would be able to hear, too, as he and Scott were both walking back to the kitchen. She looked slightly happier, but I knew that she was as troubled by this new theory, and its implications, as I was.

Derek came into the room, followed by a chattering, happy Scott. I smiled at Derek, trying to seem calm, but I knew he could see through that. The three of us knew this was going to be messy, complicated, and it would end in death.

The question was: whose death?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the late update. I had such a hard time getting through the last half of this chapter, and I don't know why. Also there was a lot of personal stuff I had to deal with. But I finally finished it!  
> I kinda feel like I'm rushing this a little, but I also feel like Lydia would have been able to figure out the Peter thing if she had been given the opportunity to know everything, so I like where this is going.  
> I'm going to do my best to have the next chapter up sooner!  
> Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!


	10. Crushed

School the next day passed in a blur, I barely remembered anything. Part of me was just in a rush to get through it so that we could do everything we needed to do tonight, but the other part of me just kept going through all the ways everything could go wrong.

Scott seemed as anxious as me–he was tense, fidgety, and just reeked of anxiety. When we told him everything yesterday he had taken it all in stride. All of us decided that we would go to the hospital to see Peter with Derek, whether to support or protect him we weren’t sure yet. We just knew that Derek couldn’t go by himself.

We had also told him that Lydia and I would be telling Allison about everything. He hadn’t seemed as nervous about that as I had expected, and that was when I knew he wasn’t going to stay with Allison. Maybe he thought what we were all thinking: would Allison still want to go on that date with him when she found out? Maybe he thought that she would find out and then his decision would be made for him.

I also thought the more time he spent with Isaac, the more he realized how much he wanted to get to know him better. He wasn’t subtle and I’m pretty sure Allison had noticed at lunch the day before. I’m pretty sure everyone noticed it. Except Isaac and Scott.

I decided to say something to him at lunch. I had planned on staying out of it because I thought it best if he figured everything out on his own but, this was Scott and sometimes he just needed a push in the right direction.

So, when the bell for lunch rang I pulled him out of the classroom and to my Jeep, ignoring his protests.

“Stiles, I need to get to the cafeteria!” He whined when we finally got to the Jeep.

“So you can sit beside Isaac and Danny won’t flirt with him?” I asked him bluntly. I figured I should just get to the point.

He whipped his around to me and I knew I had his attention. “Wh-what? No! No, I-I want to talk to Allison, it’s not Isaac…” He trailed off, blushing furiously and fully aware of the fact that his protests were useless. I could hear him lying.

“Scotty,” I said softly, putting my hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay if you like Isaac, and if you don’t want to go out with Allison anymore. What’s not okay is lying about it, to Allison or Isaac or yourself. You need to be honest.”

He looked up at me and I could see the conflict in his eyes. “Do I only like Isaac because of this Mate thing?” He whispered, and he sounded so scared. Now I understood why he had been pushing so hard to try and have a relationship with Allison. He wanted to love Isaac because he loved _him_ , not because some werewolf-Mate-thing told him to.

“No, of course not. You told Derek and I that you’ve always liked Isaac. The Mate bond isn’t what causes the feelings you have for someone else, it’s the other way around. The bond is caused by the feelings you already have for Isaac, it’s your wolf recognizing who he is to you and trying to be with him.”

He took a deep breath before nodding. Without another word we started walking back to the school. We sat at our table for lunch and I soon realized that Scott probably wouldn’t get too much of an argument from Allison when she found out that he was cancelling their date. Not with the way she was looking at Lydia.

At one point she caught my eye and ducked her head when she saw the knowing smile on my face. When she looked back I was talking to Danny about what Lydia and I had missed in Math the day before but I could see the blush in her cheeks.

Scott pulled Allison aside after lunch, and I didn’t listen in because it wasn’t my place but both of them looked slightly relieved when they caught up to our group heading to History.

Once school was over we all went our separate ways. At least for a little bit.

Scott was heading back to my place to do some homework but mostly to make sure Derek didn’t do anything rash, Lydia and Allison headed to her place and I stayed back under the pretense of forgetting something in my locker before following the girls to Allison’s house.

I didn’t want to be creepy and follow them but Allison didn’t know I was coming by and I didn’t want to park too close and risk her parents seeing me. I didn’t think they knew about me, but I couldn’t be too careful–I had a pack to protect now.

I parked a few streets over and started jogging, listening for their voices.

“…told me he couldn’t go on that date,” I heard Allison telling Lydia.

“You don’t seem all that upset,” Lydia was saying and even from a street over I could hear the absolute certainty she had in that statement.

“I’m not. Not really, anyways. Like Scott is really sweet and adorable and I said yes because I didn’t think it would hurt to see him. But uh…” I was just outside her house now, under her window.

“But you like someone else.” Lydia wasn’t asking, but I wasn’t sure if that’s because she knew who Allison liked, or if it was just obvious where the conversation was heading.

And as much as I wanted this conversation to happen… We really didn’t have time, we were on a schedule. A schedule that Lydia made. And besides, I didn’t think either one of them wanted me around when it happened.

“Hey guys, I’m really sorry to interrupt because it sounded important but Lyds, you know we don’t have time,” I said, jumping up and sitting in her window frame.

I saw Allison jump back and almost fall, Lydia catching her just in time.

“Hey Stiles,” Lydia smiled, sitting Allison on the bed.

“We gonna do this?” I asked, moving into the room and sitting at her desk chair and smiling back.

“Sti-Stiles! What the hell! How-how did you-?”

“I think you should just tell her, I don’t think there’s any way to ease her into it,” Lydia told me, sitting on the desk beside me.

I took a deep breath, Lydia was right. “So Allison, I’m a werewolf.”

Lydia and I just waited while she stared at us for half a minute. Then she snorted, face breaking into a smile. “Yeah, okay Stiles,” she answered sarcastically. “And Lydia, what are you? A mermaid?” She laughed for a moment before realizing we hadn’t laughed with her, that we weren’t joking.

“No, I’m a Banshee. Mermaids aren’t real anyways,” Lydia answered seriously, not even giving the joke any sort of attention.

“Okay, alright, that’s… nice,” Allison said, but she was saying it slowly, like she thought we were crazy. And not like funny-crazy but more like kill-you-in-your-sleep-and-wear-your-skin-crazy.

I sighed, wishing this could be easier. “Allison, we aren’t insane or anything, so please don’t be so scared,” I told her, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible. I’m pretty sure I just sounded a little impatient.

“I’m not scared,” she lied.

“Dude, your heart is beating so fast I’m actually concerned you might go into cardiac arrest.”

“Wh-what?” She whispered, caught off-guard.

“He can hear your heart. Werewolf,” was all Lydia said, like that helped anything.

“Okay, werewolves aren’t real!” Allison shouted and boy was I glad nobody else was in the house. I couldn’t imagine how her family would react to that being yelled in their house full of guns and so much wolfsbane my eyes were almost watering.

“Allison, I’m going to prove it, but you need to stay calm. Alright?” I asked, keeping eye contact to try and prove I was telling the truth. She nodded, swallowing loudly.

I let the red bleed into my eyes, flexed my fingers so that claws popped out on my right hand, and let my fangs descend, opening my mouth to show her. I didn’t move towards her or make any noise, just shifted slightly.

After about a minute I shifted back. Allison hadn’t said anything, just stared at me in shock. She wasn’t exactly calm, but she also wasn’t attacking me, so I couldn’t be too disappointed.

“You… you’re a werewolf,” she whispered after about three minutes. She still didn’t sound scared, just… accepting of the fact that I wasn’t lying. “Okay, alright,” she said, not at all like she had said it earlier.

“I am.”

“And Lydia is a Banshee,” she pointed out. It sounded like she was saying everything aloud to try and make sure she had all the facts. Lydia nodded, smiling slightly.

“Why are you telling me this?” She asked, suddenly curious. She sounded much more like herself.

“Well, uh, we wanted you to hear it from us, to show you we weren’t dangerous…” I admitted, more nervous now than I had been to shift in front of her.

“Who else would I have heard this from?”

“Your family,” Lydia answered, honest and direct. This is why it was best for both of us to do this.

Allison looked bewildered–she clearly hadn’t been expecting that. She probably thought we were going to say Scott. “My family? What does my family have to do with werewolves?”

“Well, your father, and his family, they’re Hunters. They hunt people like me. They have a Code that they go by, or at least they’re supposed to, but sometimes people break that Code… Your father doesn’t, he’s honourable, from what I’ve heard. He only goes after creatures that _are_ dangerous,” I explained.

I looked to Lydia, trying to figure out what else I should tell Allison. Lydia leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees and sighing sadly. “Allison how well do you know your Aunt Kate?”

“I think I know her pretty well, she’s more like my sister than my dad’s,” Allison answered. The ‘why?’ was implied.

“She, well… She–”

“Allison,” Lydia interrupted me, leaning her elbows on her knees. “Kate is the person who had the Hale house burned down. We don’t know if she personally lit the match, but she set it up.”

I honestly wasn’t sure if she was going to yell at us to leave or cry or laugh and tell us that we were ridiculous.

“How do you know?” She whispered. She wasn’t looking at us and she was so quiet that I’m not sure Lydia even heard the question.

“Well, a few things. But first I want to let you know, I am not prejudiced towards your aunt, I’m not just blaming her because it’s easier. Because trust me, none of this is easy,” I said. I was trying to be as transparent here as possible. I didn’t want to lie to her, I liked her a lot and if we were honest it would help her to trust us.

She nodded, and I took that as my cue to continue. “Well, when Derek was 15 he started seeing Kate. It was secret for a few reasons: she’s a Hunter, he’s a Wolf, and she’s also about 5 years older than him. So nobody knew about it, at least Derek didn’t tell anyone. She asked him a bunch of questions about his family and made it sound like she cared and loved him. And then one night, when Derek and his sister were at the school late, someone set their house on fire. There were 11 people in the house, 10 died.”

“But, someone else–”

“No one else knew what they were. It wasn’t someone else. I’m sorry, Allison,” I told her gently. She looked so lost, desperate for any other explanation.

“You believe us,” Lydia said. I was surprised when Allison nodded sadly.

She took a deep breath, “Kate… she’s always seemed a little… off, I guess. I don’t really know how to explain it except that I always sensed this sort of darkness around her. She didn’t always react to things the way most people do, not right away anyways. She would laugh at things that were just… cruel. It was always weird to me, but I never wanted to think about what it could mean,” she admitted.

It was clear on her face that she had been avoiding thinking about Kate’s psychopathic tendencies up until now.

“Do you want us to go?” Lydia asked. She was more concerned than I can remember her being in the past, with anyone. Interesting.

“Yeah, we can leave, give you time to figure everything out. You don’t have to believe us or think we’re the good guys or anything. We only wanted to make sure you knew our side,” I told her.

“Thank you for being truthful with me. I think I do believe you–I can’t see what you have to gain by lying to me about this. I just need time to–to process,” Allison admitted. She looked apologetic.

Lydia and I nodded, smiling at her a little sadly.

“I’ll run and grab the car, it’s just a few streets over. I’ll be back in a minute,” I told Lydia before leaving the same way I came in. I was true to my word, pulling up in front of the Argent’s house 52 seconds later.

Yes, I timed myself. I liked to try and get faster whenever I could.

“How did… werewolf,” I heard Allison mutter to herself. I hid my smirk by looking busy with the radio.

“So if you have any questions just call me and we can talk? Or you can call Stiles if you’d rather talk to him. He _is_ the Alpha,” Lydia told Allison, turning to walk away. She was doing a good job of hiding it but I could tell that she was scared of the impact all this information would have on their relationship.

Maybe Allison’s feelings weren’t that one-sided.

Allison grabbed Lydia’s hand and turned her so they were looking at each other again. “Lydia, I’ll definitely call you. Maybe even with questions about all this,” Allison said. I was trying so hard not to react because I didn’t want them to think I was eavesdropping, _but_ _holy shit Allison was blatantly flirting with Lydia_.

I saw Lydia nod slowly and when she turned around I looked away because I couldn’t hide the smile that was spreading over my face. Because Lydia was blushing and smiling so softly that there was no mistaking that Lydia had a crush on Allison.

I smiled and waved at Allison before she went back in her house. Her answering smile was encouraging–maybe our friendship would be okay. It was all I could ask for.

Lydia climbed in the Jeep and pointedly avoided eye contact with me. I gave her about a minute before I said anything about Allison.

“So, Allison took that pretty well,” I said casually. I didn’t miss when her heart beat fluttered a little at the mention of Allison’s name.

“She did. But I feel like she’s had feelings about Kate for a while, just ignored it because it’s her family. You can’t ignore the facts though,” Lydia answered seriously.

“You can’t ignore the facts,” I repeated smirking. Lydia didn’t miss my double meaning.

“Shut up, Stiles,” Lydia warned, but there was no heat behind it.

“So it’s true! I knew it! The feelings are mutual!” I shouted. I was so excited that this was happening. Lydia deserved to be with someone good and Allison was just that. She was kind and strong and caring and would do right by Lydia.

“Yes, they are,” Lydia admitted. She didn’t sound as happy as I thought she should. Lydia and Allison would be such a badass couple! They could kick ass together and look great doing it.

“What’s wrong with that? Most people are upset that their feelings _aren’t_ reciprocated,” I pointed out.

She sighed, “I’m not a good person Stiles… I don’t deserve someone like Allison. Not yet. I have been a shallow, selfish, and vain person. I need to be better if I want to be with her.”

“Lydia, you are a good person. Yes, it’s true that when you were with Jackson you weren’t the kindest person and you were very self-obsessed. But you’ve already changed so much in just the past week. And all I’m going to say is that it isn’t up to you to decide what Allison wants. The only thing you can do is be the person she makes you want to be.”

Lydia didn’t say anything, but I hadn’t expected her to. She would think about what I said and that was all I wanted.

“Stiles,” she said after a few moments. “Why are your eyes glowing right now?”

“What?” I asked, alarmed. I didn’t feel out of control, upset, or anything that would make my eyes glow. Then I realized, “Derek.”

I pulled over quickly and closed my eyes. When they snapped open I was seeing through Derek’s eyes. I could hear Scott muttering to himself about his homework in the other room and see Derek’s hands twisting anxiously.

“Der,” I said softly.

“Stiles,” he breathed. He sounded relieved to hear me. I smiled–it had only been a few hours since he had seen me, but he really didn’t like us being apart. I honestly didn’t like it too much either, especially with so much going on.

“We’re almost home, okay? Only five more minutes,” I promised.

“Okay, I’ll see you soon,” he whispered.

I blinked back into my own head and gave myself a few seconds to reorient myself before starting the Jeep and continuing the drive home.

“What the hell was that?” Lydia asked, bewildered.

“Uh, well, Derek and I can see through each other’s eyes when we want to. He was anxious, he doesn’t like not being near me with so much going on and he was checking up on me. The only problem is we haven’t figured out how to keep the eyes from glowing and we can’t feel when the other person is in our head,” I explained.

She looked impressed. “Is this because you and Derek had sex?” She then asked bluntly.

“What?” I demanded, shocked.

“Well, you guys have mating bites, which usually happen after two Mated wolves consummate the bond. And I’m just wondering if that’s when the tattoos and the ability manifested as well,” she enquired.

I don’t know why I was blushing so hard, my sex life wasn’t embarrassing–look at the guy that I had sex with! He was like a walking god! But maybe that’s what it was, maybe I was scared of people scoffing at the likelihood of someone like Derek being attracted to me.

I nodded, unable to say anything else and or even look at her. I don’t know if she reacted at all or even saw me nod, but she didn’t ask anything else so I took that as the end of the conversation. I pulled into my driveway and jumped out of the Jeep, grabbing my bag and holding the front door open for Lydia.

Then Derek was on me, kissing me deeply like he hadn’t seen me in months. I kissed him back with just as much feeling. Who was I to deny a kiss like this?

Eventually he pulled away, smiling and smelling content and relaxed. Like _home_. It was comforting to be near him, knowing he was safe and happy and just near me. Behind him I could hear Lydia helping Scott with his homework.

I smiled back at Derek, filled with so much love for my Pack. I knew that we were going to have to deal with many unpleasant things later, but I still felt such a connection with all of them that I couldn’t help but take pride in that, in what we had already created in such a short time. It gave me hope for what we were going to have to do.

Derek grabbed my hand and pulled me into the kitchen. I could smell the spaghetti and meatballs sitting on the stove waiting to be dished up.

“Derek and I cooked for you guys! I made my mom’s meatballs, too,” Scott told me excitedly. He ran over to me and hugged me tightly. He really was a puppy. “Stiles loves my mom’s meatballs, asks for them every time he comes over,” he stage-whispered to Lydia.

“Thank you, guys, for cooking. I can’t wait to eat because I’m fucking starving!” I told them as I grabbed plates to hand to Derek where he was scooping pasta.

Derek laughed, “You’re always starving, I don’t think any of us are surprised.”

We all grabbed plates and sat at the table. The meatballs were just as good as Melissa’s, and when I told Scott he beamed proudly.

“So Scott,” Lydia started. He turned to look at her curiously. “You told Allison you couldn’t go out with her?” She probed innocently. Well at least it looked innocent, like she was just curious about why he wouldn’t want to go on a date with Allison.

He nodded slowly, thoughtfully. He was probably thinking about the best way to phrase this, what with Lydia being Allison’s friend and all.

“Well, the thing is, I like Isaac. But it’s not just a crush, it’s… it’s more than that. It’s like what Derek and Stiles have I think, he’s my Mate. I feel this constant need to be near him and I want to show him that he is loved and wonderful and I want to help him because I know he’s hurting and I don’t like it,” he said. He nodded again, like he was realizing that what he was saying was true.

He was still trying to figure all of this out and I wanted to be able to help him, but I couldn’t tell him what he was feeling. He was doing really well though, the Alpha in me was proud of my Beta.

Lydia smiled at Scott. “Well, I just wanted to let you know that Allison is okay, she’s not upset. She likes someone else, too. And I knew how you felt about Isaac, I just wanted to hear what you thought about it,” she told him, a little smug about knowing about Scott liking Isaac and about Allison liking her.

I was glad Lydia and I were closer now, it was much easier to know what she was thinking when we were friends.

“You knew?” Scott sounded a little worried that he was too obvious. Well, he was, but not to Isaac. They were both oblivious. It would be sweet if it weren’t so frustrating.

“Scott, the only person that doesn’t know is Isaac, and that’s only because he doesn’t believe anyone could ever see him like that. You should tell him, tell him everything,” she told him. Scott looked a little baffled, whether by her sincerity or the fact that everyone knows I couldn’t tell but I snorted.

Lydia raised her eyebrow in question. I shrugged, “It’s good advice, that’s all,” I answered. She blushed and took a bite of food to try and distract from her reaction.

“You said Allison likes someone else?” Derek asked with the same tone Lydia used earlier, pretending to ask innocently. I snorted again. We really were perfect for each other.

“Yeah! Who does she like?” Scott asked obliviously, smiling. He was probably just happy that he hadn’t upset her.

Lydia mumbled something that even we couldn’t hear. I only caught the words ‘fucking assholes’ at the end.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” I teased. I knew I was smiling far too much but I really enjoyed this side of Lydia.

“Me, she likes me,” she grumbled. She was trying to hide the pleased smile on her face though, so we knew she wasn’t that upset.

She’d probably never had friends she could be honest with, not if she wanted to keep her popular reputation.

“Oh. Okay, yeah you should definitely tell her,” Scott said casually and began digging into his pasta again.

Then Derek asked how Allison had reacted to us telling her about the supernatural and that conversation lasted until we were done eating.

When Lydia and I finished washing the dishes we were all ready to go to the hospital to confront Peter. We climbed into the Jeep, not knowing what to say.

“So, we all know what we’re doing?” I broke the silence. It was making me more nervous.

“You and Derek go in to see him alone. Scott and I wait in the lobby down the hall from his room to keep us close if you need backup but far enough away that we aren’t a threat,” Lydia repeated the plan to us.

“If he attacks and is dangerous, we kill him,” Derek said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. Lydia and Scott whipped their heads around to look at Derek. That hadn’t been part of the plan. We hadn’t actually talked about what we were going to do with Peter, Derek never said anything and we definitely didn’t want to ask.

“Are you sure?” I asked him, trying to sound less shocked than I was.

“He’s dangerous and he’s my responsibility. I can’t let him keep hurting people. I’ll kill him if I have to.”

I nodded to let him know I understood. I didn’t want Derek to have to kill his uncle, but this was his decision and his family. I would respect his decisions.

I pulled up to the virtually empty long-term care facility. Visiting hours were over which was how we had planned it. We didn’t want anybody to be in danger if they didn’t have to be.

I unlocked the door to the building and we walked in quietly. There was no staff on this floor right now, we would be alone.

“Stiles,” Lydia whispered. “Where did you get a key?”

“I borrowed it.”

“Borrowed?” She asked doubtfully.

“Temporarily misappropriated,” I corrected myself. She shook her head but said nothing else.

We got to the lobby and Scott and Lydia stood in a corner, so nobody could sneak up on them and they would be able to see all the hallways. Derek and I moved to Peter’s room down the hall.

We stood in front of the door and I gave Derek a look that I hope he translated correctly, asking if he was sure about this. He nodded, and I could see that he was preparing himself for the worst.

He opened the door slowly and left the lights off. It’s less obvious if someone walks by and it wasn’t like we needed it anyways.

“What the hell?” Derek asked, and I was thinking the same thing. The bed was empty. Peter wasn’t there.

“I thought he was comatose?” I asked Derek, worried I had misunderstood Peter’s diagnosis.

“Oh I _was_ comatose,” I heard a smug voice from behind us. We turned and saw Peter standing behind us. He still had a burn mark covering the right side of his face, but other than that he looked exactly like I remembered him.

“Thank you for coming to visit me dear nephew. And you brought a guest! Your boyfriend, obviously,” Peter said, sniffing the air.

“Jesus Peter, I forgot what a smarmy bastard you are,” I said. A raised eyebrow was the only indication I got that he was even slightly shocked by my comment.

“I’m sorry, do we know each other?”

“Stiles Stilinski. What up?” I smirked.

I saw movement in the corner of my eye and held my hand up to stop Scott and Lydia from coming over just yet. I wish I had been able to stop them without Peter noticing but there was no way to do that.

“Ah, so you’re in charge here. Not Derek,” Peter pointed out. He was grinning like that was a benefit to him. Derek growled at the insinuation that I was the weaker choice. I touched his arm to keep him calm. I didn’t want Derek to be the one to start a fight here.

Of course, Peter didn’t know I was an Alpha, I was covering the scent. Any advantage I could get I was going to use. If he underestimated me, we might have a better chance.

“Derek and I are equals,” I told him. It was true, I didn’t see myself as being above him, or any of my Pack.

“That’s because you all need a proper leader, not a pack of misfit kids running around trying to stop things they don’t understand,” Peter sneered.

Lydia and Scott had come over, despite my warning not to. They weren’t the secret backup anymore, so it really didn’t matter. We probably all felt better when we were together right now.

“What don’t we understand?” Lydia asked, her tone superior. “That you’re killing everyone that had anything to do with the Hale fire? That you only have Kate left? That you killed Laura to get her Alpha status and then bit Scott to try and build a Pack? Or are we missing a bigger picture?”

Peter did a good job of covering up his surprise that we had figured everything out, but I still saw it flit across his face.

“Maybe you’re a little smarter than I initially guessed. Who are you?” He asked. I didn’t like the way he looked at her, like he was appraising something rare and expensive and he wanted to keep her.

She straightened up defiantly. “I’m Lydia, Lydia Martin.”

“Martin? Any relation to Lorraine?” Peter asked, looking a little warier but still appraising.

“Her granddaughter.”

Peter just hummed in interest but didn’t comment.

“That’s enough Peter,” Derek asserted. “Peter, you can’t keep killing people. I know what they did and I want justice for everyone, too. But you killed _Laura_. Murder isn’t the way to go about this.”

“Laura shouldn’t have been Alpha, _I should have been Alpha. It was mine, I deserved it!_ ” Peter growled. I guess the fight was starting.

He started shifting and by the time he finished he didn’t look like Peter anymore. He didn’t look _human_.

“Okay, I guess we’re doing this,” I sighed and began shifting. I turned to Scott and Derek, who had also shifted, and Lydia, who looked ready to fight. She still hadn’t explained exactly how she was going to fight but she had insisted that she could. I guess I was going to find out now.

“You’re an Alpha?” Peter asked. His words were barely discernible beneath the snarl, but my werewolf hearing picked it up.

“Fuck yeah I am,” I answered, grinning smugly. He was trying to hide the fact that he was worried, but even he couldn’t deny that he was outnumbered. He could have possibly taken us if we were all Betas, but with me being an Alpha, it was definitely a concern for him.

“This is your last chance Peter. Come with us, you can go to Eichen to get help, or we have to kill you. _I_ have to kill you,” Derek said sadly. He didn’t like either of his options, but he couldn’t let Peter just get away with what he had done.

“You think you can beat me? You’re children!” He barked a laugh and it sounded crazy. Peter had completely lost it. He was always a little off-balance but whatever had happened to him had completely unhinged him.

He lifted his claws to slash at us and Derek, Scott, and I roared, ready to fight.

And then I was thrown to the side and forced to cover my ears when I heard the ear-splitting scream coming from Lydia. She had her arms out in front of her and it looked like her scream had thrown Peter back against the wall behind him.

“Derek, now!” I yelled. Peter had been so shocked that he had shifted back to human and now was Derek’s best chance. He jumped up and ran over to Peter.

“Derek–” but Peter’s plead was cut off when Derek tore his claws across his uncle’s throat.

Lydia collapsed on the floor, leaning against the wall opposite Peter. She was breathing heavily and I nudged Scott to check on her. I would have but my biggest concern was Derek.

He was curled in on himself beside Peter’s body, his head in his hands. His scent was overwhelming, anguish, distress, fear, it was so strong that I could barely smell anything else.

“De-” but I cut myself off when he turned around and faced me. He looked terrified, his eyes wide and glowing Alpha red. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finally finished this! I had a completely different chapter written about a week ago and then I realized that I hated it and ended up rewriting it. I like this one a lot better.  
> Only a few more chapters left and then this story is done.   
> Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


	11. Loose Ends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, this chapter is in Derek's perspective!

Oh god.

What had I done? _What the fuck had I done?_

Stiles was looking at me and I could see that he was terrified of me. I couldn’t blame him. I had just killed my uncle, my last living family.

And now I was an Alpha! What the hell was that going to do to our relationship? How would that work? It wasn’t completely unheard of for there to be more than one Alpha in a pack, but the dynamic was difficult to navigate. The Alpha Pack was volatile–they had a leader, but they were all still Alpha’s, their instincts told them to lead, they fought against being ordered around.

 What if I had to leave the Pack? What if I lost them? I couldn’t lose them, too! They were all I had left and I needed them and I couldn’t be alone, not again. Not when I had gotten so used to being able to depend on people.

“-ek! Derek, baby, it’s okay!” I realized that Stiles was stroking my face, his nose almost touching mine he was so close. I also realized that I was snarling and panting–I was having a panic attack. This was certainly not my first, I used to have them all the time after the fire.

“Stiles?” I was too panicked to even care about how scared and vulnerable I sounded.

“It’s alright, Der, I’m here. I’m not leaving, you’re safe,” he assured me. His voice was soft and soothing, and if he had spoken to me like this a month ago I would have thought he was mocking me. Now though, I just leaned into his hand against my face and breathed in his scent.

“Scott? Lydia?” I asked after a few minutes.

“They’re right here, they’re okay,” Stiles told me. I finally opened my eyes and saw them standing on the other side of the hall. They didn’t look scared, just concerned. And the way they looked like they were holding themselves from coming over, I thought they might even be concerned _for me_.

“Come here,” I whispered, making grabby hands at them. They rushed over to kneel on either side of Stiles.

I sat up a little straighter and leaned towards Lydia. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” I asked her, touching her cheek and trying to siphon any pain she might have. It didn’t seem like there was much except a mild headache.

“I’m alright,” she smiled.

I nodded and looked to Scott. “What about you? Are you okay?”

He smiled, too. “I’m good, dude. How are you?” He frowned slightly and moved his hand like he wanted touch me but thought it might not be a good idea. I put my hand on his shoulder, letting him know it was okay.

“I’m… I’m freaking out,” I admitted. There was no point lying, it was pretty obvious. I feel like the panic attack gave it away, honestly.

“That’s understandable,” Lydia said. “Though, you’re handling this pretty well, all things considered.”

I gave her a small smile, thanking her for the comfort. Being around them made me feel better, enough that I was calming down. “How did you do that, by the way? That was incredible!” I exclaimed, remembering how she had saved us all.

She shrugged casually, like it was something she did everyday. “My grandmother wrote in her journal that if I can direct my scream it can be used as a weapon. I’ve practiced a few times.”

“That is–” Stiles cut off abruptly, tilting his head to the side. I concentrated for a second and then I heard it, too. Sirens.

“Fuck, we gotta go. Scott, Lydia, get to the car and open the trunk,” I told them. They nodded and ran to the doors.

“Derek I can do this alone, you don’t have to–”

“Stiles, we don’t have time to get emotional yet, I’ll deal with all of that later. Come on, I’m fine,” I interrupted. I probably sounded a little harsher than I meant to, but I couldn’t risk my Pack getting into any trouble over this.

I grabbed Peter–Peter’s body–and threw him over my shoulder and ran to the Jeep. We had put a tarp in the back for this possibility, so I wrapped him in it and climbed into the driver’s seat, starting the Jeep. Stiles came running out with his arms full of sheets that he had used to clean up the blood on the floor.

“Okay, go, they’re really close, everything is done.”

I backed out of the parking spot and sped away from the hospital, keeping the lights off so the police cars wouldn’t notice us as they peeled into the lot. When we were far enough away I slowed down, not wanting to get pulled over with a dead body in the back seat.

“Where are we going?” Scott asked when we drove past the Stilinski house.

“The Preserve,” the rest of us answered. It was the only place we could put Peter’s body when it looked like he had been attacked by an animal. The rest of the drive was silent.

“Derek…” Stiles whispered gingerly, like someone trying to approach a scared animal.

I stopped in front of the burned skeleton of my family’s home and got out of the Jeep. Nobody else moved, maybe realizing this was something that I had to do alone.

I moved Peter’s body to the living room, laying him on the floor like he had collapsed there after being attacked. Then I turned away from him and walked back to the Jeep.

Peter was a lot of things in the end, but he was still family and he deserved to be with the rest of them. I took one more look at the house and I got the feeling that it was the last time I would see it. I realized that I was okay with that. This wasn’t my home anymore.

I looked at my Pack, my family. They were my home now.

I nodded once to myself and then drove out of the trees. Whatever the fallout was from this, we would be okay. We would have each other.

* * *

An hour later found us all crammed onto Stiles’ bed, our legs tangled up and an alarming amount of junk food and Dr. Pepper’s strewn around us. We hadn’t really talked, except for the occasional request for someone to pass a snack.

“I still… feel like Pack,” I voiced uncertainly. I wasn’t sure if the others felt the same as before. It was strange though, my wolf didn’t feel any different towards Stiles, which it normally would towards other Alpha’s. It would feel a need to protect, defend.

“That’s because you’re Mates. The Mate bond overrides the Alpha status and thus Mates can both be Alphas,” Lydia told us. I stared at her, a little shocked that she knew this. _I_ didn’t even know this, and I’m a wolf, raised by wolves.

She looked up and saw that all three of us were staring at her with looks of shock. “What? I read,” she told us, grabbing the gummy bears and popping a few in her mouth.

I snorted, shaking my head and smiling.

“When did you read this?” Stiles asked.

“Last night, after I went home. I was curious,” she replied.

I nudged Stiles, hearing his dad driving towards the house.

“I know. Are we going to explain this to him now? Or wait?” He asked me.

I listened to the Sheriff pull into the driveway, unlock the front door, take off his gun belt.

“Might as well explain it now,” I said. It wouldn’t be any easier if I waited. And I wanted this to be done with.

Noah walked up the stairs–he sounded tired–and then knocked on the door before coming in.

He took one look at our faces, sighed, and sank into the desk chair. “What happened?”

* * *

The next day I decided to sleep in–I really needed to just take a day and gather myself. Stiles and the rest of them had school and Noah was at work, probably waiting for the call about Peter’s body to come in. It would probably be a while before they found him but he was still going to be a missing persons case.

Anyways, I was in bed when I heard someone pounding on the door. I got up and pulled on some sweats to go downstairs. I was still half-asleep when I pulled open the door and was face-to-face with Chris Argent and two other Hunters.

Fuck.

I backed up a few steps, more than a little shocked.

“Derek, I heard you were back in town,” Argent said. He sounded casual, but I was pretty sure he was here to blame me for all the attacks in town. I said nothing and moved out of his way when he walked into the room to sit at the kitchen table.

“I also heard about your sister.”

That comment was harder for me to stop any reaction. I knew he was waiting for me to show any sign of aggression to attack and I wouldn’t give him the opportunity.

But I was beginning to panic now. I wasn’t an idiot, there were three of them, and while I was an Alpha I still didn’t want to hurt anyone.

“Anyways, what are you doing at the Sheriff’s house?” He asked curiously. That question meant that he probably didn’t know anything about Stiles. Good.

“He heard that I didn’t have anywhere to stay and offered me a room until I figured everything out,” was all I said. I wasn’t going to out Stiles as supernatural.

I closed my eyes, thinking about how much I wanted Stiles and the rest of the Pack with me, but also glad that they were safe right now.

When I opened them again I saw Chris staring at me, sizing me up. I leaned against the wall behind me, trying to seem more relaxed than I was.

“What are you doing here, Argent? You’re not here to chat about my living arrangements.”

“Well Derek, there are people being attacked, and I can’t have that. Considering they started around the time you came to town, I have to wonder if you’re the one attacking.”

 

_Halfway across town, Stiles heard Derek’s voice in his head_ “I wish Stiles was here, but at least him and the Pack are safe.”

_He was shocked for a moment, he had never heard Derek’s voice in his head, not like that. It was like Derek had spoken to him._

_Stiles closed his eyes, focusing on Derek, and had to stop the growl threatening to come from him throat._ Why were there Argent’s in his kitchen?

_His eyes flew open, and he was thankful Lydia and Scott were in this class with him._

_He stood up, grabbing his things and shoving them in his bag. “Lyds, Scotty, we gotta go. Code Silver,” he said and ran from the room. Lydia and Scott grabbed their things just as quickly and were following him before the teacher even had time to react._

 

“I’m not the rogue Alpha, he’s been dealt with. It was my Uncle Peter, he killed my sister for her Alpha status and then started attacking anyone that was related to the fire that killed my family. He was going after your sister next, but I killed him last night,” I explained wearily. I really didn’t want to get into this, especially not with an Argent.

Argent looked shocked, “My sister? Why would he kill Kate? We had nothing to do with the fire!”

I sighed, rubbing my hand over my face tiredly. I had just wanted to sleep in and have a day to collect myself. Was that too much to ask?

“I know _you_ had nothing to do with it. But your sister did.”

“No, she di–”

“Did you know that your sister dated me when I was in high school?” I asked, thinking it was best to just put everything out on the table.

“What?” He clearly did not know this.

“When I was fifteen your sister and I dated. She told me that she didn’t agree with everything your family believed, she thought some werewolves were good and she made me think she loved me. I stupidly trusted her and told her too much about my family. Then she waited until she thought my whole family was in the house and burned it to the ground. Did you know that some of my family were kids? Humans? She is the only person that knew enough about my family to have been able to do it. To want to do it.”

The shock and repulsion on his face was clear. He hadn’t known any of this. I had always known that, but I didn’t think he would believe me if he ever had this explained to him.

I had been wrong.

That was when Stiles, Lydia, and Scott had burst in through the door, ready to fight. The three Hunters stood up, guns pointing at the teenagers standing in front of them.

“Stop, stop, it’s fine!” I shouted, putting myself between the Hunters and my Pack. Fuck, why were they here right now?

“Dad! Put the gun down!”

I turned to see Allison pushing through my Pack to stand beside me, putting herself between her father and us.

“Allison, you and your friends need to leave, you have no idea what’s going on here,” Argent said, lowering the gun. The other two Hunters followed his lead, though they didn’t seem happy about it.

“You sure about that?” Stiles asked. I turned to see him and Scott flashing their eyes. I sighed heavily. I had been hoping they could keep this secret; fewer people that knew about them, the better.

“You’re… oh. Well, Allison, take Lydia and go back to school. You don’t know what this is really about, you’re not involved.” Chris looked a little more cautious now, he didn’t outnumber us anymore.

“Is this about how Kate killed Derek’s family?” Allison demanded. She sounded a little offended at being asked to leave.

“Or about the rogue Alpha? Because I helped Derek kill him last night,” Lydia said. She said it like she was talking about the weather, like it was a casual everyday topic of conversation.

“You-you helped,” Argent repeated, a little hysterical now. “Naturally, you helped. What are you then? I’m assuming not a werewolf because you didn’t glow your eyes at me.”

“I’m a banshee,” Lydia stated.

Argent stared at us for a moment, and I could see a vein in his forehead throbbing. He looked like he might explode.

Finally he sat down, sighing. “What the fuck is with this town?”

I had to admit, I’d asked that question more than once.

* * *

We had talked to Argent, explaining that we weren’t going to hurt anyone. If he wanted to keep an eye on us that was fine, we couldn’t stop him. But we also made it very clear that our Pack was protected by two Alphas and we wouldn’t take threats lightly. We decided to make a Pact between the Hunters and the Pack of Beacon Hills. It seemed like the best option.

When I asked Stiles how he knew the Hunters were here, he explained that he had heard me and then looked through my eyes, saw Argent, and immediately left school. We all concluded that because we were both Alphas, both even more powerful, our Mate ability had amplified slightly. It was nice, it meant we had more control.

Allison and Lydia, after weeks of tiptoeing around each other and hinting at their feelings _finally_ started dating. It was a relief to all of us that had to watch it when it was absolutely obvious that they were completely gone on each other.

Everything was really good for a while.

Until Scott dropped Isaac off at home one night after hanging out. They had been just as frustrating as the girls, but we understood Scott’s hesitation a little more. Isaac knew nothing about the supernatural and we had no idea how he would react. And then there was how nervous and jumpy he was. We were all certain something was happening with this kid but any time someone voiced any concern he brushed it off.

So the night Scott dropped Isaac off, he decided to stay close to the house for a little. We were all pretty sure the problem was that his dad was hurting him, but without proof we couldn’t do anything.

That was when Scott heard Mr. Lahey start shouting, then something being thrown, then a grunt from Isaac that sounded like he had been punched in the stomach.

Scott kinda lost it, ran into the house half wolfed out and stood in front of Isaac, snarling and approaching Mr. Lahey.

Isaac had said Scott’s name, which calmed him down enough to realize that he couldn’t hurt Mr. Lahey, not with the Pact and not when it could hurt Isaac. The man was horrible but he was still Isaac’s dad.

So he just held out a hand to Isaac, offering to take him home. Isaac had very willingly accepted the help, not even questioning the fact that Scott had glowing yellow eyes, claws, and fangs. He just knew Scott wouldn’t hurt him.

Scott had brought Isaac straight to our house to talk to the Sheriff. The Sheriff was still at work for a couple hours, so we took the time to explain about werewolves.

“Can… I want… Can I become a werewolf?” Isaac had asked all of us, eyes wide with wonder.

Scott, Stiles, and I had looked at each other, unsure of how to answer the question.

“Are you sure that’s something you would want? You’ve had a chaotic night, maybe you should think about this. It’s dangerous, being in this world,” Scott had explained. We nodded in agreement.

“Scott, you know that I’m a claustrophobic?” Scott nodded, but I could tell he was confused. “I’m claustrophobic because at least twice a week my father locks me in a freezer in our basement. He leaves me down there for hours, sometimes all weekend if he’s really pissed. So if you think this is chaotic, or I don’t know how dangerous the world is, think again. I get that there are Hunters and other supernatural threats, but at least I would have the strength and a Pack to back me up with that danger. I would have people that care about me. I know what I’m asking.”

We all just stared at him, unsure of how to respond to that.

**_Der, we have to help him._ **

_I know, Mischief. But is it really what’s best for him?_

  ** _We can help him, he needs to be helped! How is having a Pack not helping him! He understands what the dangers are. He just wants to feel safe, loved. We can do that. And he’s Scott’s Mate. We knew this was always a possibility._**

_I know, I just… we’ve never turned anyone. What if he dies? You and I both know that not everyone survives the Bite…_

“Can you guys not have secret conversations concerning us?” Scott demanded. The Pack always got a little annoyed at us when we did this.

Isaac looked at Scott. He obviously had no idea what the hell Scott was talking about.

“Sorry, sorry,” Stiles apologized sheepishly.

“Isaac, you should know that not everyone survives the Bite. There’s a chance you’ll die,” I told him seriously. I was guessing he wouldn’t really care about that though.

“It’s a miracle my father hasn’t killed me yet anyways, I’ll take my chances. This is something I want to do,” he said firmly, proving me right. I really hoped he would survive–he would make an amazing wolf.

“I think Derek should do it.”

I stared at Stiles, a little surprised. I had just thought that because he had been an Alpha longer, he would do it. And he was Scott’s best friend, surely Scott would want him to do it.

“Just listen for a second,” Stiles said quickly. “Isaac, I think you should talk to my dad about your father. Then you should get emancipated, and you can talk to Melissa about maybe staying with Scott and her. Scott and my dad explained the werewolf thing to her a few weeks ago and she seems okay with it now. And then, Derek can turn you, that way he and I both have ‘our’ Betas. Scott being mine and you being Derek’s.”

Isaac thought about it for a few seconds before nodding. “Alright, that sounds fair.”

Three days later, Mr. Lahey was arrested, Isaac had filed for emancipation, and he was moving into the McCall house. He had been thrilled when Scott had told him about them being Mates, that Scott cared about him.

I gave him the Bite just after the next Full Moon, wanting him to get as much time to gain control.  It wasn’t easy, but Scott had gone through a couple Moons and was much better with his control. He helped us a lot with Isaac.

When Scott and Isaac properly Mated, they got their Mating marks. They were two bands, Scott’s around his bicep, and Isaac’s around his wrist. They were pretty much inseparable after that, constantly kissing and saying stupidly sweet things to each other.

We all pretended to be disgusted by it but we were secretly happy they were happy.

Eventually they realized that their Mate ability was that they could tell what the other one was feeling, but only when the feeling was really strong. For a while they didn’t realize it because they both just felt really happy and in love.

Until Scott woke up panicking, but he couldn’t understand why–he had been having a really good dream apparently. He had looked at Isaac and realized Isaac was having a nightmare, and he must have been able to feel that panic.

It had been useful whenever Isaac was on the verge of a panic attack or when Scott got angry at someone. They had been able to calm each other down.

* * *

“Stiles, I don’t have an opinion on any Marvel characters.”

“That’s a lie and you know it! Admit it, Banner is your favourite Avenger!”

I woke to the sound of Lydia and Stiles bantering in the kitchen, the others making the occasional remark. I smiled and pulled on some pants. Stiles was making breakfast for the Pack.

“Lydia hasn’t seen any of the Marvel movies, she can’t have an opinion,” I heard Allison tell Stiles. I snorted as I reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the kitchen.

The Pack turned and looked at me, silently questioning my snort. Everyone except Lydia, who glared at me.

“Don’t you dare, Derek Hale!” Lydia warned.

I smirked, “Did Lydia not tell you guys that she’s a closet comic book nerd?”

“WHAT?” Everyone shouted at the same time.

“You promised you wouldn’t say anything!” Lydia whined. I just laughed, kissing the top of Stiles’ head.

“Yeah,” I continued, still smirking. I went over to Lydia’s one day to help her move some furniture and I mentioned that I really like to read. She showed me all of her books, saying I could borrow whatever, and then I saw some comics hidden behind the books on the top shelf. She has almost as many as Stiles,” I told them. I laughed at the scandalized look on Lydia’s face.

Everyone was still in shock, but Stiles wasn’t a person that stayed silent for very long.

“No way! That’s awesome! We need to have a Marvel movie marathon! Come on, Lyds, you know you want to!”

I smiled, watching my Pack tease each other. They were my favourite people in the world, the people I cared most about in this world. And I was just so glad to call them my family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is done!  
> I'm really sorry if this is kinda choppy and seems rushed. I couldn't think of a really proper ending, just these little bits and pieces of the Pack after Peter. I hope it's alright!  
> I really loved writing this story, so thank you for reading it! Thank you to everyone who commented and stuck with me through it, especially when I took so long to update.  
> As always, I appreciate every comment, kudos, bookmark, just any support to show that you liked the story!


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